phantasmagoric

adjective

variants or phantasmagorical
Definition of phantasmagoricnext
as in hallucinatory

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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 Over the course of one phantasmagoric evening, Robin witnesses events that prefigure the Revolutionary War. — John Swansburg, The Atlantic, 15 June 2026 Right around that time, the Venice Film Festival saw Mamoru Hosoda’s anime epic Scarlet, in which the Danish prince became an ass-kicking Danish princess consigned to a hellish and phantasmagoric underworld. — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2026 The action is punctuated by flash-frame collages that bring earlier and later observations together in a tumble of associations and hint at the drama’s mystical, phantasmagorical essence. — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 6 Feb. 2026 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phantasmagoric
  1. hallucinatory
  2. surreal
  3. illusory
  4. imaginary
  5. fictional
  6. phantasmal
  7. fictitious
  8. chimerical
Adjective
  • Paramount+ delivered the main full trailer for season 4 on June 15, 2026, and it’s packed with dinosaurs, cowboys, horses, space storms, dreams, nightmares, fire-breathing dragons, haunted spaceships, and hallucinatory pleasure planets.
    — Jeff Spry, Space.com, 23 July 2026
  • Bretisilocin is a 5HT-2a receptor agonist producing hallucinatory and psychedelic-like effects with a duration of 60-90 minutes.
    — Robert Glatter, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026
Definition of hallucinatory
Adjective
  • With an abundance of genre-crossing indulgences that are scary, surreal, and sometimes silly, the Paramount+ hit is operating at full warp speed in this penultimate outing, the debut episode of which just premiered on July 23, 2026.
    — Jeff Spry, Space.com, 24 July 2026
  • Painterly compositions, operatic violence, and surreal emotional logic overwhelm the audience in twisted worlds that overwhelm first and explain second.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 24 July 2026
Definition of surreal
Adjective
  • Conversations need grounding as intuitive Moon in your 3rd House of Communication opposes illusory Neptune in your 9th House of Travel and Learning, so facts and visions compete.
    — Tarot.com, Sun Sentinel, 22 June 2026
  • That is, real, not merely illusory, measures, so that the allure to breach peace for imagined gains is overshadowed.
    — Keith Tidman, Baltimore Sun, 15 June 2026
Definition of illusory
Adjective
  • Anyway, Will Venable has my imaginary vote, though Mike Vasil's wizardry might be the bigger reason why the White Sox are rolling.
    — Andy McCullough, New York Times, 17 July 2026
  • Her function in the movie is less goddess and more imaginary friend.
    — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 17 July 2026
Definition of imaginary
Adjective
  • Rather than shattering the illusion, the heroine invents an increasingly elaborate fictional life to protect her mother — and, ultimately, herself.
    — Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 21 July 2026
  • Her feature-length films include the documentaries The factory is full (2012) and Shores (2015), and the fictional feature Pawn Street (2017).
    — Zac Ntim, Deadline, 21 July 2026
Definition of fictional
Adjective
  • The Mellotron occupies a phantasmal space in our pop culture consciousness.
    — Sam Goldner, Pitchfork, 19 July 2026
  • Beyond that, all apparent structures are merely phantasmal.
    — Big Think, Big Think, 27 Oct. 2025
Definition of phantasmal
Adjective
  • The victim provided the service and was given a fictitious check as payment.
    — Anne Gelhaus, Mercury News, 17 July 2026
  • The book traces the fictitious Yeoman family’s evolution over generations from self-sufficient homesteaders to participants in global markets.
    — Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 23 June 2026
Definition of fictitious
Adjective
  • Carrington, who died in 2011, devoted the final 17 years of her life to creating bronze figures and masks, conjuring her chimeric cast out of the canvas and into our own.
    — Tessa Solomon, ARTnews.com, 13 June 2026
  • To overcome the tumor microenvironment, researchers have developed a treatment called chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, known as CAR-T therapy for short.
    — Charles J. Dimitroff, The Conversation, 12 June 2026
Definition of chimerical

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Cite this Entry

“Phantasmagoric.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phantasmagoric. Accessed 27 Jul. 2026.

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