Main Entry:

¹fan·ta·sy

Variant(s):

also phan·ta·sy \ˈfan-tə-sē, -zē\

Function:

noun

Inflected Form(s):

plural fan·ta·sies

Etymology:

Middle English fantasie — more at fancy

Date:

14th century

1obsolete : hallucination2: fancy ; especially : the free play of creative imagination3: a creation of the imaginative faculty whether expressed or merely conceived: as a: a fanciful design or invention b: a chimerical or fantastic notion c: fantasia 1 d: imaginative fiction featuring especially strange settings and grotesque characters —called also fantasy fiction 4: caprice5: the power or process of creating especially unrealistic or improbable mental images in response to psychological need <an object of fantasy> ; also : a mental image or a series of mental images (as a daydream) so created <sexual fantasies of adolescence>6: a coin usually not intended for circulation as currency and often issued by a dubious authority (as a government-in-exile)