Fanciful

Fanciful
Fanciful Fan"ci*ful, a. 1. Full of fancy; guided by fancy, rather than by reason and experience; whimsical; as, a fanciful man forms visionary projects. [1913 Webster]

2. Conceived in the fancy; not consistent with facts or reason; abounding in ideal qualities or figures; as, a fanciful scheme; a fanciful theory. [1913 Webster]

3. Curiously shaped or constructed; as, she wore a fanciful headdress. [1913 Webster]

Gather up all fancifullest shells. --Keats.

Syn: Imaginative; ideal; visionary; capricious; chimerical; whimsical; fantastical; wild.

Usage: {Fanciful}, {Fantastical}, {Visionary}. We speak of that as fanciful which is irregular in taste and judgment; we speak of it as fantastical when it becomes grotesque and extravagant as well as irregular; we speak of it as visionary when it is wholly unfounded in the nature of things. Fanciful notions are the product of a heated fancy, without any tems are made up of oddly assorted fancies, aften of the most whimsical kind; visionary expectations are those which can never be realized in fact. -- {Fan"ci*ful*ly}, adv. -{Fan"ci*ful*ness}, n. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • fanciful — [fan′sə fəl] adj. 1. full of fancy; indulging in fancies; imaginative in a playful way; whimsical 2. created in the fancy; imaginary; not real [a fanciful tale] 3. showing fancy in construction or design; quaint; odd [fanciful costumes]… …   English World dictionary

  • fanciful — index arbitrary, arbitrary and capricious, capricious, delusive, fictitious, ill founded, illusory, insubstantial …   Law dictionary

  • fanciful — 1620s, from FANCY (Cf. fancy) + FUL (Cf. ful). Related: Fancifully …   Etymology dictionary

  • fanciful — imaginary, visionary, fantastic, chimerical, quixotic Analogous words: *fictitious, fabulous, mythical, apocryphal, legendary: bizarre, grotesque, *fantastic: preposterous, absurd (see FOOLISH): *false, wrong Antonyms: realistic Contrasted words …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • fanciful — [adj] imaginary, romantic absurd, aerial, bizarre, blue sky*, capricious, castles in the air*, chimerical, curious, dreamlike, extravagant, fabulous, fairy tale, fancied, fantastic, fantastical, fictional, fictitious, fictive, flaky*, floating,… …   New thesaurus

  • fanciful — ► ADJECTIVE 1) over imaginative and unrealistic. 2) existing only in the imagination. 3) highly ornamental or imaginative in design. DERIVATIVES fancifully adverb fancifulness noun …   English terms dictionary

  • fanciful — [[t]fæ̱nsɪfʊl[/t]] 1) ADJ GRADED (disapproval) If you describe an idea as fanciful, you disapprove of it because you think it comes from someone s imagination, and is therefore unrealistic or unlikely to be true. ...fanciful ideas about Martian… …   English dictionary

  • fanciful — adjective Date: circa 1627 1. marked by fancy or unrestrained imagination rather than by reason and experience < a fanciful person > 2. existing in fancy only < a fanciful notion > 3. marked by or as if by fancy or whim < gave their children… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • fanciful — fancifully, adv. fancifulness, n. /fan si feuhl/, adj. 1. characterized by or showing fancy; capricious or whimsical in appearance: a fanciful design of butterflies and flowers. 2. suggested by fancy; imaginary; unreal: fanciful lands of romance …   Universalium

  • fanciful — fan|ci|ful [ˈfænsıfəl] adj 1.) imagined rather than based on facts often used to show disapproval ▪ a fanciful story ▪ The suggestion that there was a conspiracy is not entirely fanciful. 2.) full of unusual and very detailed shapes or… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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