fan|tas|tic

fan|tas|tic «fan TAS tihk», adjective, noun.

–adj.

1. very odd or queer; strange and wild in shape or manner; showing unrestrained fancy: »

The firelight cast weird, fantastic shadows on the walls. Come and trip it, as you go, the light fantastic toe (Milton).

SYNONYM(S): freakish, bizarre, grotesque.

2. very fanciful; capricious; eccentric; irrational: »

Many of her dreams are fantastic. The idea that machines could be made to fly seemed fantastic a hundred years ago.

SYNONYM(S): fabulous.

3. existing only in imagination; unreal: »

She saw fantastic things in her dream. Superstition causes fantastic fears.…filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before (Edgar Allan Poe).

SYNONYM(S): imaginary.

4. Informal. unbelievably good, quick, high, etc.: »

That store charges fantastic prices.

–n.

a person who has fantastic ideas, mannerisms, etc.: »

The inhabitants of…Stepney are fantastics: You won't find their originals in the documentary or in the music hall (Listener).

╂[< Late Latin phantasticus < Greek phantastikós < phantázesthai imagine < phaínesthai appear]

–fan|tas´ti|cal|ness, noun.