Definitions

fanciful

[fan-si-fuhl] / ˈfæn sɪ fəl /

ADJECTIVE

imaginary, romantic

Synonyms

STRONGEST

absurd bizarre extravagant fantastic fantastical fictional imaginative offbeat preposterous unreal whimsical

WEAK

aerial blue-sky capricious castles in the air chimerical curious dreamlike fabulous fairy-tale fancied fictitious fictive flaky floating ideal illusory imagined incredible kinky legendary mythical notional on cloud nine pie in the sky pipe dream poetic shadowy suppositious visionary wild

Antonyms

STRONGEST

normal reasonable sensible usual

WEAK

grave ordinary real serious sincere unfanciful unimaginative unromantic

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It is fanciful, seeing as he has only reached the last 16 of a major for the first time, but not impossible given the men's draw continues to be blown wide open.

From BBC • May 29, 2026

All A.I. systems today are built around neural networks, which, despite their fanciful name, are just math formulas.

From Slate • May 25, 2026

Being back at Disney, Dudamel admits, is very emotional, especially conducting “Walküre” with Gehry’s sets of billowy, sumptuous clouds and fanciful white papery horses.

From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026

Kyle Balda directs the fanciful comedy, which is based on Leonie Swann’s 2005 novel, “Three Bags Full.”

From The Wall Street Journal • May 3, 2026

Collision with a floating mine might explain explosion, but seems fanciful, besides highly unlikely as sinking started at stem, which in all likelihood would mean that hull breach was at stem too.

From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

Vocabulary lists containing fanciful

The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone

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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 6

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30 GRE Words Beginning with "E" and "F"

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