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 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
Adjective
  • Such hallucinatory citations are, according to judges and lawyers, troubling at a variety of levels, not the least of which is their threat to the integrity of the judicial system.
    Edmund H. Mahony, Hartford Courant, 1 Mar. 2026
  • And there’s still almost an hour of film left to go, in which everyone, including the audience, is in a sort of hallucinatory, post traumatic daze — but even the relative comfort of that won’t last long.
    ABC News, ABC News, 18 Feb. 2026
Adjective
  • Walking into the Oscar party with an Academy Award was a surreal and out-of-body experience.
    Elise Taylor, Vanity Fair, 3 Mar. 2026
  • Those strikes also killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, marking a turning point in the nation’s history and leaving Iranians confronting a surreal mixture of relief, disbelief and anxiety.
    Issy Ronald, CNN Money, 2 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • Disciplined Saturn encounters illusory Neptune in your 6th House of Work and Health, pushing you to define tasks and protect your focus from distractions.
    Tarot.com, Hartford Courant, 20 Feb. 2026
  • The cost-cutting obsession is a trap, and the savings may prove illusory.
    Brad Anderson, Fortune, 17 Feb. 2026
Adjective
  • Nobody has ever called Brentford head coach Keith Andrews a magical or imaginary being.
    Tim Spiers, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Circumpolar stars Astronomers use a common set of reference points to project Earth’s north and south poles, and the equator, onto the celestial sphere, an imaginary sphere encompassing the sky.
    Vahe Peroomian, The Conversation, 5 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • In a signal of how much pressure there was to do right by the beloved fictional couple, four endings were written and filmed.
    Yvonne Villarreal, Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2026
  • The Irish Triangle may sound like a fictional, far-away land, but, luckily for Louisvillians, this magical corner of the Highlands is very real.
    Amanda Hancock, Louisville Courier Journal, 6 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • Beyond that, all apparent structures are merely phantasmal.
    Big Think, Big Think, 27 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • To ventriloquize one’s parent is a bold move, and fictitious Barbara would absolutely read it as a betrayal.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Who wants to sit through a fictitious novelist’s clumsy drafts?
    Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 14 Feb. 2026
Adjective
  • Beloved ’s ghost is being and nonbeing, the chimerical in the flesh.
    Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 17 Feb. 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 Mar. 2026.

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