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

• bizarre
• absurd
• foolish
• fantastical
• 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

Notably, early models featured fanciful color combinations right at home on the farm, such as Pasture Green with Autumn Yellow wheels and Harvest Tan with Sunset Red wheels. —Robert Ross, Robb Report, 17 Oct. 2025

Democrats today are guided not by sober empiricism but by fanciful ideology. —Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025

Manager Luis Enrique may well have argued any such talk was fanciful, given the length of his team’s early-season injury list, with Marquinhos, Ousmane Dembele, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Desire Doue, Joao Neves, Bradley Barcola and Fabian Ruiz all enduring time out already. —Jack Bantock, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025

The rest of the cast is similarly sleepwalking through a fanciful pantomime of Southern culture rather than a serious drama. —Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 13 Oct. 2025

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