phantasmagoria
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
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
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 159: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value RP is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˌfæntæzməˈɡɒɹi.ə/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 159: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value US is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˌfæntæzməˈɡɔːɹi.ə/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -ɔːriə
Noun
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
Terms derived from phantasmagoria
Translations
a series of events
a dreamlike state
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