phantasmagoria

English

WOTD – 9 September 2006

Alternative forms

phantasmagory, fantasmagoria

Etymology

Borrowed from French phantasmagorie, from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma, “ghost”) + possibly either ἀγορά (agorá, “assembly, gathering”) + the suffix -ia or ἀγορεύω (agoreúō, “to speak publicly”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌfæntæzməˈɡɒɹi.ə/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˌfæntæzməˈɡɔːɹi.ə/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɔːɹiə

Noun

phantasmagoria (plural phantasmagorias)

(historical) A popular 18th- and 19th-century form of theater entertainment whereby ghostly apparitions are formed.
Synonym: magic lantern
A series of events involving rapid changes in light intensity and color.
A dreamlike state where real and imagined elements are blurred together.
- 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:
  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.
- 2025 July 24, Josh Marshall, “Why Is Jeff Bezos Rakestomping the Post?”, in Talking Points Memo‎^[1], archived from the original on 31 July 2025:
  What’s happening at the Post now — I’m surprised more people haven’t drawn the comparison — is sort of comparable to the phantasmagoria of rake stomps which took place at The New Republic after Facebook billionaire Chris Hughes purchased it in 2012.

Derived terms

Translations

a series of events

Catalan: fantasmagoria (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 走馬燈 / 走马灯 (zh) (zǒumǎdēng)
Finnish: fantasmagoria (fi)
Japanese: 幻灯 (ja) (げんとう, gentō), 走馬灯 (ja) (そうまとう, sōmatō), 影絵 (ja) (かげえ, kage-e)
Serbo-Croatian: fantazmagòrija (sh) f

a dreamlike state

Belarusian: фантасмаго́рыя f (fantasmahóryja)
Catalan: fantasmagoria (ca) f
Finnish: fantasmagoria (fi)
French: fantasmagorie (fr) f
German: Phantasmagorie (de) f
Hungarian: fantazmagória (hu)
Italian: fantasmagoria (it) f
Japanese: 幻 (ja) (まぼろし, maboroshi)
Polish: fantasmagoria (pl) f
Portuguese: fantasmagoria f
Romanian: fantasmagorie (ro) f
Russian: фантасмаго́рия (ru) f (fantasmagórija)
Serbo-Croatian: fantazmagòrija (sh) f
Spanish: fantasmagoría (es) f
Ukrainian: фантасмаго́рія f (fantasmahórija)