phantasmagoria

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-

Examples of phantasmagoria in a Sentence

He saw a phantasmagoria of shadowy creatures through the fog.

Recent Examples on the Web

The race itself is a phantasmagoria of lights and more fire, crafted to take advantage of the day-to-day rhythms of Saudi Arabia, where the day doesn’t quite start until the sun goes down and the heat dissipates. —Erik Shilling, Robb Report, 24 Apr. 2025

The sense of phantasmagoria and unreality is gone. —Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 6 Jan. 2025

The opportunity to complete his unfinished manuscript initially makes the film seem like a tribute to deadline extensions, but Youth Without Youth twists itself into a metaphysical phantasmagoria on age, consciousness, spirituality, and 20th-century evil. —Scott Tobias, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2024

Lurking behind Foreman’s madhouse phantasmagorias is the mind of the artist interrogating its own secret chambers. —Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 21 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

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

circa 1802, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for phantasmagoria

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