phantasmagoria
/ˌfæntæzməˈɡɒɹi.ə/
phantasmagoria means A popular 18th- and 19th-century form of theater entertainment whereby ghostly apparitions are formed. It carries an Arena rating of 1889, earned across 51 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, phantasmagoria ranks #5 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #230 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #447 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #619 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words.
phantasmagoria is pronounced /ˌfæntæzməˈɡɒɹi.ə/.
Why “phantasmagoria” is a great word
PHANTASMAGORIA — [Noun] A dreamlike, shifting, and often fantastical series of images, scenes, or illusions. From French phantasmagorie, from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma, “apparition, phantom”) + possibly ἀγορά (agorá, “assembly, gathering”) + the suffix -ia; first attested in English in 1802 as the name of a magic lantern exhibition. Unlike “phantasm,” a single spectral visitation, or “kaleidoscope,” an orderly play of symmetrical fragments, a phantasmagoria is a chaotic, narrative procession. It is the fevered succession of faces melting into landscapes behind closed eyelids, the projected ghost advancing upon a shuddering audience, the relentless and illogical scene-shifts of a deep dream—the private cinema where logic has abandoned its post.
Etymology
Borrowed from French phantasmagorie, from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma, “ghost”) + possibly either ἀγορά (agorá, “assembly, gathering”) + the suffix -ia or ἀγορεύω (agoreúō, “to speak publicly”).
noun
- A popular 18th- and 19th-century form of theater entertainment whereby ghostly apparitions are formed.
- A series of events involving rapid changes in light intensity and color.
- A dreamlike state where real and imagined elements are blurred together.e.g.“this mental phantasmagoria” — 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, [
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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