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fancy

fancy

23 7.0
Imagination that makes mental pictures and ideas
  • noun
  • /ˈfænsi/
  • Literature
translation icon : fantasía
  • John Keats gives life to philosophical descriptions of fancy in his poem, "Fancy" (1820).
  • a flight of fancy
  • fact rather than fancy

But the, the, the English speaking world has always been very empirical and not really given to tremendous flights of fancy.

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Examples

  • Indeed, it is the medium of fancy that allows her to picture the aerial vista.

    Academic text (2017)
  • The emphasis in Wordsworth's definition, however, is on fancy's playfulness and ephemerality.

    Academic text (2017)
  • "Is love a fancy or a feeling?

  • It's just my fancy, I suppose, but you remind me a bit of her.

  • It's now your duty to sit down and try and separate the facts from the fancy.

  • All my life was lived on the periphery, the ramblings of a young man's fancy.

  • Coleridge provides a dynamic example of fancy's "excursions" in a 1799 entry of his Notebooks.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Many great stories begin with a flight of fancy that takes readers to extraordinary places.

  • As a child, I often created elaborate worlds from my fancy, filled with magical creatures.

  • His poetry often reflects the beauty of human fancy and the ability to dream beyond reality.

Antonyms

1.0

A fact that shows how things really are

1.4

The way things really are, not how we imagine or wish

Idioms

15 2.7

Simple and plain without anything special or expensive

To think you will be successful in a situation

9.9

Looks very expensive to impress people

Compounds

A restaurant with expensive food, a nice atmosphere, and very good service

flight of fancy
  • Informal
7 7.4

An imaginative idea that is unlikely to be true or useful

5 3.5

A costume people wear to hide who they are at a party

4 2.5

A large, expensive home with nice decorations

1 9.5

A woman who has a sexual relationship with a man who supports her financially

1 7.0

A formal party where people wear costumes and masks and dance

fancy Dan
  • Offensive
9.9

A man who dresses and acts in a flashy way to attract attention

fancy goods
  • Archaic
4.1

Small decorative items often sold as gifts

9.4

A man who is a woman's secret lover, not her husband

fancy man
  • Offensive
9.9

A man who finds customers for prostitutes and takes their money

How Imaginary

fantasy
112 3.8
fancy
  • Literature
23 7.0
whimsy
18 6.3
daydream
43 2.6

Surface Forms

fancy singular
fancies plural

Etymology

Fancy meaning 'imagination' comes straight from the Greek phantasia and the English word fantasy, both meaning 'the power to form images in the mind'. So, when writers speak of 'fancy' they mean the creative pictures and ideas you can make in your head.