fanciful

adjective

fan·​ci·​ful ˈfan(t)-si-fəl 

1

: marked by fancy or unrestrained imagination rather than by reason and experience

a fanciful person

a fanciful tale of a monster in the woods

2

: existing in fancy (see fancy entry 2) only

a fanciful notion

the falsehoods about some fanciful secret treaties

—F. D. Roosevelt

3

: marked by or as if by fancy or whim

gave their children fanciful names

fancifully

ˈfan(t)-si-f(ə-)lē 

adverb

fancifulness

ˈfan(t)-si-fəl-nəs 

noun

Synonyms of fanciful

• bizarre
• absurd
• foolish
• unreal
• insane

Choose the Right Synonym for fanciful

imaginary, fanciful, visionary, fantastic, chimerical, quixotic mean unreal or unbelievable.

imaginary applies to something which is fictitious and purely the product of one's imagination.

an imaginary desert isle

fanciful suggests the free play of the imagination.

a teller of fanciful stories

visionary stresses impracticality or incapability of realization.

visionary schemes

fantastic implies incredibility or strangeness beyond belief.

a fantastic world inhabited by monsters

chimerical combines the implication of visionary and fantastic.

chimerical dreams of future progress

quixotic implies a devotion to romantic or chivalrous ideals unrestrained by ordinary prudence and common sense.

a quixotic crusade

Examples of fanciful in a Sentence

a fanciful tale of a monster in the woods

They gave all their children fanciful names.

Recent Examples on the Web

At first glance, the results of the research, conducted with collaborators at Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany, sound fanciful at best. —New Atlas, 13 Apr. 2026

Signing a 10-year lease was a sigh of relief for the company, the result of a lengthy search that included more than 80 spaces and ensured its playful, fanciful shows would continue to be a multigenerational, SoCal tradition. —Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2026

Dahl’s books are fanciful and imaginative, but also dark, cynical, and mean (and, unfortunately, often reflected his real-life ugliness), spinning stories in which gruesome and unpleasant fates befell rotten kids, and adults were frequently selfish, cruel, and not to be trusted. —Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 10 Apr. 2026

Of course, there’s one big difference between Loftus’s memory of the house fire and Deutsch’s fanciful scaling of Lincoln’s nose. —Tim Requarth, Longreads, 9 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

fancy entry 2 + -ful entry 1

First Known Use

circa 1627, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

fanciful

adjective

fan·​ci·​ful ˈfan(t)-si-fəl 

1

: having or showing free imagination rather than reason

a fanciful person

a fanciful tale

2

: existing in fancy only

a fanciful notion

fancifully

-f(ə-)lē 

adverb

fancifulness

-fəl-nəs 

noun