phantasmagoric

adjective

variants or phantasmagorical
Definition of phantasmagoricnext
as in hallucinatory

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of phantasmagoric Over the course of one phantasmagoric evening, Robin witnesses events that prefigure the Revolutionary War. — John Swansburg, The Atlantic, 15 June 2026 Right around that time, the Venice Film Festival saw Mamoru Hosoda’s anime epic Scarlet, in which the Danish prince became an ass-kicking Danish princess consigned to a hellish and phantasmagoric underworld. — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2026 The action is punctuated by flash-frame collages that bring earlier and later observations together in a tumble of associations and hint at the drama’s mystical, phantasmagorical essence. — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 6 Feb. 2026 Today, the public district collection comprises some 35 large-scale murals, sculptures and installations, including the phantasmagoric exterior of its Museum Garage. — Andres Viglucci, Miami Herald, 30 Nov. 2025 The Land of Spooks is a phantasmagorical blend of twisting gothic spires, impossible land formations, and disconcerting expressionist proportions. — Kambole Campbell, IndieWire, 4 Nov. 2025 As the two keepers' accelerating madness batters their already uneasy relationship, the film becomes a phantasmagorical endurance test, with the two antagonistic leads hurling themselves against their tight confinement. — Dennis Perkins, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phantasmagoric
  1. hallucinatory
  2. surreal
  3. illusory
  4. imaginary
  5. fictional
  6. phantasmal
  7. fictitious
  8. chimerical
Adjective
  • After the attack, his witty, vulnerable voice holds together a chaotic and increasingly hallucinatory downward slide.
    — Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
  • That wouldn’t have left time for the psychotic, hallucinatory state to begin and for the voices in Clancy’s head to kick in and tell her to kill the children and carry out the suicide attempt, as the defense team has contended, Sprague said.
    — Emily Hallas, The Washington Examiner, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of hallucinatory
Adjective
  • Watching a giant blue bull move through the Nevada desert feels surreal, and with Ukrainian collaborators building it, the piece strongly shows cultural identity and resilience.
    — Jim Dobson, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026
  • Ballet served as the starting point, with its codes translated across footwear and apparel into a more expansive, surreal sphere.
    — Jaden Thompson, Footwear News, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of surreal
Adjective
  • The apparently illusory swings show the difficulty of accurately counting homeless people in the expanse of north Los Angeles County.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Until there is agreement on which share count and which components of enterprise value belong in these calculations, comparability across companies is illusory, and the sector now includes well over a hundred public issuers of very different sizes.
    — Sean Stein Smith, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of illusory
Adjective
  • Where travel still leaves room for people The goal isn't to return to some imaginary golden age of travel.
    — Christopher Elliott, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2026
  • There isn’t even a drastic generational shift between that imaginary cast and this film’s actual one.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of imaginary
Adjective
  • In the footage, players follow the story of Jason and Lucia, a couple living in the fictional Vice City, who are picking up drugs, and their mission is thwarted by the police, who begin to raid the place.
    — Moises Mendez II, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2026
  • Claire Foy will also star in the film, playing a fictional reporter of The Sun that acts as a composite of various female reporters of the time period.
    — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of fictional
Adjective
  • The Mellotron occupies a phantasmal space in our pop culture consciousness.
    — Sam Goldner, Pitchfork, 19 July 2026
  • Beyond that, all apparent structures are merely phantasmal.
    — Big Think, Big Think, 27 Oct. 2025
Definition of phantasmal
Adjective
  • The April indictment accused the organization of secretly funneling millions of dollars in donor funds to informants embedded in violent extremist movements, using bank accounts opened for fictitious companies.
    — Arie Perliger, The Conversation, 31 Aug. 2026
  • The inaugural Ig Nobel Prize ceremony honored three fictitious achievers; all recipients in subsequent years (barring a 1994 award based on inaccurate reporting) have been real people.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of fictitious
Adjective
  • Carrington, who died in 2011, devoted the final 17 years of her life to creating bronze figures and masks, conjuring her chimeric cast out of the canvas and into our own.
    — Tessa Solomon, ARTnews.com, 13 June 2026
  • To overcome the tumor microenvironment, researchers have developed a treatment called chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, known as CAR-T therapy for short.
    — Charles J. Dimitroff, The Conversation, 12 June 2026
Definition of chimerical

Browse Nearby Words

phantasmagorias
phantasmagoric
phantasmal
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Cite this Entry

“Phantasmagoric.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phantasmagoric. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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