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

• absurd
• bizarre
• crazy
• fantastic
• fantastical
• foolish
• insane
• nonsensical
• preposterous
• unreal
• wild

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

Storrs Hall’s story begins not with the fanciful flying cars of the future but with those of historical record. —Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024

And throughout the garden are little riots of succulents spilling from pots, baskets and even the fanciful nook built into their chimney, dotting the garden with jolts of color like fancy embellishments on a cake. —Jeanette Marantos, Los Angeles Times, 15 Apr. 2024

Heart of Rocks Loop: The most striking pinnacles can be found on this short loop, a mystical stone gallery bristling with fanciful formations like Camel’s Head, Punch and Judy, Thor’s Hammer and Duck on a Rock. —Roger Naylor, The Arizona Republic, 11 Apr. 2024

Solar eclipses have long triggered fanciful explanations and warnings, from religious mythology to modern-day superstition. —Bill Chappell, NPR, 8 Apr. 2024

And in the rural reaches of America, where few public charging stations exist, the notion of an all-electric future feels fanciful — another element to the urban-rural divide that underlies the nation’s polarization. —Jack Ewing, New York Times, 21 Mar. 2024

But these fanciful flourishes never read superfluously, instead reaffirming Rohrwacher’s comfortable straddling of the real and the fantastical. —Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 30 Mar. 2024

Nor does Renegade Nell care much to find out — and while there is probably something to be said for eschewing the origin story to dive headfirst into action, the vagueness with which the series treats its more fanciful elements robs them of their weight. —Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Mar. 2024

The field dates back to 1936, when Alan Turing first imagined a fanciful device, now called a Turing machine, that could perform any computation by reading and writing symbols on an infinite tape. —Ben Brubaker, Quanta Magazine, 21 Mar. 2024

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