phantasmagoria
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Alternative forms [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phantasma, “ghost”) + αγορευειν (agoreuein, “to speak publicly”)
Pronunciation [edit]
Noun [edit]
phantasmagoria (plural phantasmagorias)
- A popular 18th- and 19th-century form of theatre entertainment whereby ghostly apparitions are formed; a magic lantern.
- A series of events involving rapid changes in light intensity and colour.
- A dreamlike state where real and imagined elements are blurred together.
- Sir Walter Scott
- This mental phantasmagoria.
- 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life Chapter V
- It is impossible to convey, in words, any idea of the hideous phantasmagoria of shifting limbs and faces which moved through the evil-smelling twilight of this terrible prison-house. Callot might have drawn it, Dante might have suggested it, but a minute attempt to describe its horrors would but disgust. There are depths in humanity which one cannot explore, as there are mephitic caverns into which one dare not penetrate.
- Sir Walter Scott
Derived terms [edit]
Terms derived from phantasmagoria
Translations [edit]
a series of events
a dreamlike state
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