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fantasy

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Stories about magic, imaginary worlds, and creatures

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

fantuhsee

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfæntəsi

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. literature

    The literary genre generally dealing with themes of magic and the supernatural, imaginary worlds and creatures, etc.

  2. That which comes from one's imagination.

  3. A fantastical design.

verb

  1. transitive

    To conceive (something) mentally; to imagine.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (literature) The literary genre generally dealing with themes of magic and the supernatural, imaginary worlds and creatures, etc.

Used this way, fantasy is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in literature or storytelling contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Literature/storytelling

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use fantasy

  • “A schoolgirl fantasy.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

fantasy worldfantasy lifesexual fantasypure fantasyfantasy play

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • fantasy lifenounCompound term

    An imaginary life lived in a fantasy world.

  • fantasy worldnounCompound term

    Something existing solely in the imagination (but often mistaken for reality).

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to conceive (something) mentally

phantasy

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.