phantasmagoric

variants or phantasmagorical
Definition of phantasmagoricnext

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of phantasmagoric Today, the public district collection comprises some 35 large-scale murals, sculptures and installations, including the phantasmagoric exterior of its Museum Garage. Andres Viglucci, Miami Herald, 30 Nov. 2025 The Land of Spooks is a phantasmagorical blend of twisting gothic spires, impossible land formations, and disconcerting expressionist proportions. Kambole Campbell, IndieWire, 4 Nov. 2025 As the two keepers' accelerating madness batters their already uneasy relationship, the film becomes a phantasmagorical endurance test, with the two antagonistic leads hurling themselves against their tight confinement. Dennis Perkins, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025 The new film tries to connect its phantasmagorical elements to regular middle-class lives, but the attempt serves both aspects poorly. Richard Brody, New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phantasmagoric
Adjective
  • The script leans heavily on exposition — internal monologues, disembodied intercom voices, and hallucinatory flashbacks — to communicate lore that might have resonated more powerfully through action or environment.
    Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Its first big splash came at the Venice Film Festival in 2023 with AGGRO DR1FT, an 80-minute, Travis Scott–co-starring fever dream shot entirely through thermal lenses and built to feel less like a movie than a game-like, hallucinatory experience.
    Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 15 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • Babu describes their first day filming as surreal.
    Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 3 Feb. 2026
  • In many neighborhoods of Chicago, the scene was surreal early that Groundhog Day morning.
    Adam Harrington, CBS News, 2 Feb. 2026
Adjective
  • Put another way, the self can be both illusory and real, or real enough.
    Michael Pollan, The Atlantic, 26 Jan. 2026
  • Growth has been weak and illusory.
    Ariel Cohen, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • Finally, the researchers did another version of the original test but used imaginary grapes instead of juice, with similar results.
    Evan Bush, NBC news, 5 Feb. 2026
  • Unfortunately, the new love in your life may be imaginary and only after your bank account.
    C. A. Bridges, Florida Times-Union, 4 Feb. 2026
Adjective
  • The best of all sports-movie subgenres, football films have given us great characters – real and fictional – and a bunch of awesome cinematic moments in everything from screwball comedies to real-life narratives.
    Brian Truitt, USA Today, 6 Feb. 2026
  • The overall look has drawn comparisons to a fictional stealth aircraft rather than a conventional Navy jet.
    Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
  • Beyond that, all apparent structures are merely phantasmal.
    Big Think, Big Think, 27 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Comulate also invented a fictitious insurance agent named Jordan Bates, who purported to work for PBC and who interacted with Applied Systems salespeople through email (with a Phoenix Benefits email domain) to create a customer account on Applied’s Epic.
    John Hyatt, Forbes.com, 30 Jan. 2026
  • In a comparable case in the United States in 2023, a federal judge imposed $5,000 fines on two lawyers and a law firm after ChatGPT was blamed for their submission of fictitious legal research in an aviation injury claim.
    CBS News, CBS News, 27 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has been hollowed out (and has continued to bleed talent even this week) and has been reoriented around chimerical right-wing causes such as claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.
    David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2026
  • There’s also ongoing progress in chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy and other immunotherapies for cancer, as well as in personalized cancer vaccines.
    The Editors, Scientific American, 16 Dec. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Phantasmagoric.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phantasmagoric. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.

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