Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A fantastic sequence of haphazardly associative imagery, as seen in dreams or fever.
- noun A constantly changing scene composed of numerous elements.
- noun Fantastic imagery as represented in art.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A fantastic series or medley of illusive or terrifying figures or images.
- noun Specifically
- noun An exhibition of images or pictures by the agency of light and shadow, as by the magic lantern or the stereopticon; especially, such an exhibition so arranged by a combination of two lanterns or lenses that every view dissolves or merges gradually into the next.
- noun The apparatus by means of which such an exhibition is produced; a magic lantern or a stereopticon.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An optical effect produced by a magic lantern. The figures are painted in transparent colors, and all the rest of the glass is opaque black. The screen is between the spectators and the instrument, and the figures are often made to appear as in motion, or to merge into one another.
- noun The apparatus by which such an effect is produced.
- noun Fig.: A medley of figures; illusive images.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A popular 18th- and 19th-century form of theatre entertainment whereby ghostly apparitions are formed; a
magic lantern . - noun A series of events involving rapid changes in light intensity and colour.
- noun A dreamlike state where real and imagined elements are blurred together.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a constantly changing medley of real or imagined images (as in a dream)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Poe, Baudelaire, and Rimbaud, the phantasmagoria was a favorite metaphor for the heightened sensitivities and often-tormented awareness of the romantic visionary.
Smoke and Mirrors: Internalizing the Magic Lantern show in _Vilette_ 2005
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"Densely composed and outrageously Freudian, Brand Upon the Brain! offers psychosexual anxiety, resurrection, vampirism, and the kind of phantasmagoria that exists only in the mind of a playful visionary," writes Fernando F Croce at Slant.
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In this state of mind and body, it was not strange that he should either dream, or else that his diseased organs should become subject to that species of phantasmagoria which is excited by the use of opium.
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Philipstal, staged his "phantasmagoria" in London at the Lyceum, and William Nicholson was in the audience to provide this eyewitness account:
Smoke and Mirrors: Internalizing the Magic Lantern show in _Vilette_ 2005
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Consumed by "phantasmagoria," distracted, entertained, spectators enjoy their alienation from others and themselves and sink into the mass "in an attitude that is pure reaction."
Reading Machines 2005
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As I earlier explain, "phantasmagoria" has come to take on a specialised meaning, post Castle.
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Shows using ghostly special effects were, in 1787, to be given the name of "phantasmagoria," but de
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He had so withdrawn himself of late to the inner creative life that he moved in a kind of phantasmagoria of outer unrealities.
Golden Stories A Selection of the Best Fiction by the Foremost Writers Various
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In this state of mind and body, it was not strange that he should either dream, or else that his diseased organs should become subject to that species of phantasmagoria which is excited by the use of opium.
The Fair Maid of Perth St. Valentine's Day Walter Scott 1801
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"Densely composed and outrageously Freudian, Brand Upon the Brain! offers psychosexual anxiety, resurrection, vampirism, and the kind of phantasmagoria that exists only in the mind of a playful visionary," writes
GreenCine Daily 2009
arkracer commented on the word phantasmagoria
A nice word to upset others in converse; they have heard the word, but don't know the meaning, and thus nod along trying to avoid using it.
September 14, 2007
faraway commented on the word phantasmagoria
*nodding*
September 14, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word phantasmagoria
My favorite usage: Steven Pinker's
"the half-million-word phantasmagoria of the English language."
October 12, 2007
yarb commented on the word phantasmagoria
Also the title of a dodgy eighties goth-rock album by The Damned.
October 12, 2007
PossibleUnderscore commented on the word phantasmagoria
'The monotonous rocking fo the boat, and the murmur of the water, had somewhat stupefied the unhappy Claude. When the boatman had left him, he remained standing stupidly upon the bank, staring straight before him, and seeing everything in a sort of tremulous mist, which made all seem like a phantasmagoria.'
-The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo
June 8, 2010
revengeance commented on the word phantasmagoria
I have mostly phantasmagoric dreams...
December 11, 2011