phantasmagoria

1 of 2

noun

phan·​tas·​ma·​go·​ria (ˌ)fan-ˌtaz-mə-ˈgȯr-ē-ə 

1

: an exhibition of optical effects and illusions

2

a

: a constantly shifting complex succession of things seen or imagined

b

: a scene that constantly changes

3

: a bizarre or fantastic combination, collection, or assemblage

phantasmagoric

(ˌ)fan-ˌtaz-mə-ˈgȯr-ik 

-ˈgär-

adjective

or phantasmagorical

(ˌ)fan-ˌtaz-mə-ˈgȯr-i-kəl 

-ˈgär-

phantasmagoric

2 of 2

adjective

phan·​tas·​ma·​gor·​ic

-gär-

variants or less commonly phantasmagorical

-rə̇kəl 

: of, relating to, or like a phantasmagoria

the phantasmagoric armorial trophies which rattled as I strode

—E. A. Poe

a great concourse of phantasmagoric shadows

—J. C. Powys

Examples of phantasmagoria in a Sentence

Noun

He saw a phantasmagoria of shadowy creatures through the fog.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The production at the Winter Garden Theatre, starring Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf, unfolds in a surreal garage space, where Willy Loman parks his car after returning from an aborted sales trip and a phantasmagoria of his exhausted life plays out around him. —Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 29 Apr. 2026

For the past seventy-odd years, this philosophical debate has engendered a phantasmagoria of thought experiments: the Chinese room, roaming p-zombies, brains in vats, the beetle in the box. —Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026

More than ever before, Industry is a high-low phantasmagoria of decadence, amorality, and vice set in the pressure cooker of international finance. —Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 7 Jan. 2026

Maxine Tarnow, the Upper West Side fraud investigator, moves through a Manhattan already haunted by 9/11 and by the virtual phantasmagoria of the early internet. —Literary Hub, 10 Dec. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

borrowed from French phantasmogorie (later fantasmagorie) "theatrical show using magic lanterns in a darkened performance space to suggest supernatural phenomena," from fantasme phantasm + -ogorie, -agorie, of uncertain origin

Note: The French word was used by the magician Paul Phylidor (†1829, of uncertain nationality), apparently first in an announcement of a performance in the Parisian journal Affiches, annonces et avis divers for December 16, 1792. The performance is discussed slightly earlier under the heading "Phantasmogorie" in a letter by one "A.L.M.," in an issue of the Magasin encyclopédique for December 3, 1792 (pp. 17-19). The final element -agorie has been variously explained; perhaps the most plausible suggestion is that it was split off from allégorie allegory. In a handbill for a performance in Vienna in March, 1790, Phylidor uses the presumably plural form phantasmorasi: "… wird der Physikus Phylidor seine Darstellungen der sogenannten Phantasmorasi, oder natürlicher Geister Erscheinungen … einem hohen und unschätzbaren Publikum die Ehre haben zu zeigen" ("… the physician Phylidor will have the honor to exhibit his representations of the so-called Phantasmorasi, or natural spirit phenomena, to a high and inestimable public"). The relation of this earlier word to phantasmogorie is unclear. (The handbill is preserved in the Vienna City Library.)

First Known Use

Noun

circa 1802, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for phantasmagoria

• dioscorea
• infusoria
• sanatoria
• aporia
• centaurea
• dysphoria
• euphoria
• septoria
• signoria
• trattoria
• chorea
• correa