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Glite Dictionary
🏰 Imaginary place 🤔 Unrealistic thinking
fantasyland

fantasyland

2 6.3
A way of thinking that ignores real problems and expects impossible results
  • noun
  • /ˈfæntəsiˌlænd/
  • Informal
translation icon : mundo de fantasía
  • Many people think that success comes easily, but that's just a dangerous trip to fantasyland.
  • living in fantasyland

Maybe it's because they're just so creative that their brains go off into into fantasylands.

Examples

  • Americans need to stop living in a fantasyland and wake up to the fact that it will take all of us working together to solve our nation's problems.

    Blog text (32)

  • Once you start talking about incumbents who won with a 40,000 or 60,000 vote cushion, you're in fantasyland.

    Blog text (14)

  • My feeling is that once you get over 100 million dollars, well... it's fantasyland... how much more can you want?

    Blog text (20)

  • Look at this, folks-- we back in Fantasyland.

    Drive-By Truckers: The Secret to a Happy Ending (2011)

  • However, I do not believe we all live in fantasyland.

    Blog text (12)

  • Anyone who believes that he can accomplish all of those things is living in Fantasyland.

    Blog text (4)

  • And voters should understand the clear choice they have between legislators from a party that lives in the real world and a party that lives in Fantasyland.

    Blog text (12)

  • This ain't Fantasyland, EJ!

    Blog text (27)

  • Believing he could become a millionaire overnight, he was clearly living in fantasyland.

  • Ignoring the obvious challenges, she continued to pursue her dream, lost in her fantasyland.

Synonyms

fantasy world
vsfantasyland
21 4.4

An imagined place in your mind with magic and strange creatures

is about a mental state of unrealistic beliefs rather than a place
dreamworld
vsfantasyland
2 6.6

An imagined perfect place that exists only in dreams

describes the same imagination but focuses on personal unrealistic beliefs
never-never land
vsfantasyland
  • Literature
2 8.8

A made-up perfect place that exists only in dreams

means being detached by unrealistic ideas rather than a literal place
unreality
vsfantasyland
2 8.8

A lack of contact with real life that makes someone unable to deal with problems

focuses on holding unrealistic beliefs while ignoring practical realities
fool's paradise
vsfantasyland
  • Informal
1 8.1

A feeling of happiness based on wrong hopes that will not last

is the same detachment but not necessarily happy or content
cloud-cuckoo-land
vsfantasyland
  • Informal
1 9.9

An imaginary place where people are out of touch with reality because they are too optimistic

is similar but refers to general unrealistic ideas not just optimism
Neverland
vsfantasyland
  • Informal
1 8.6

An imaginary place where a person avoids real life and adult duties

is broader covering any unrealistic ideas not only childish escape
La-La Land
vsfantasyland
  • Informal
8.1

A state of not knowing what is real, often with happy, silly ideas

is similar but emphasizes unrealistic ideas without happy ignorance

Antonyms

realism
38 4.5

A way of thinking that accepts facts and prefers practical plans

practicality
26 3.9

Being useful and likely to work well in real situations

How Unrealistic

delusion
199 6.7
fantasyland
  • Informal
2 6.3
wishful thinking
  • Informal
45 4.1
realism
38 4.5

Surface Forms

fantasyland singular
fantasylands plural

Morphology

fantasyland = fantasy + land (semi-transparent) = fantasy + land

Metaphorical extension to a mental state ('land' = realm/state of mind) makes the idiomatic meaning 'state of unrealistic ideas' less directly derivable for some learners.

Etymology

Fantasyland joins fantasy ('made-up ideas') and land ('place'), so it gives the image of a place in your mind that is not real. So, saying someone is in fantasyland means they are living in a 'made-up place' of ideas and are ignoring real problems.