Spanish word

fantasía

Pronunciation

IPA/fantaˈsia/

Meaning

  • feminine nounimagination

Example

A veces me pierdo en mi fantasía.

Sometimes I get lost in my imagination.

Illustration for fantasía (imagination)

More examples

La película pertenece al género de fantasía.

The film belongs to the fantasy genre.

Core concept

A mental scene of wishes, daydreams, or invented stories.

Common phrases

  • género de fantasía

    fantasy genre

  • tener una fantasía

    have a fantasy

  • obra de fantasía

    fantasy work

Similar words

imaginación: Capacity to form mental images and ideas about people, things, or events.
sueño: A sequence of images and scenes experienced while sleeping.
ilusión: A hopeful, excited expectation that something desirable will happen.
ficción: A made-up story or narrative created from imagination.

Definition in Spanish

Representación mental de escenas, historias o deseos que no reflejan necesariamente la realidad.

Word origin

It comes from Greek phantasia via Medieval Latin, with the root phant- meaning 'to show', so the word originally described the mind producing appearances or images.

Usage tips

  • Often used with fantasear or perderse en la fantasía to mean indulging in daydreams, while imaginar is the neutral verb for forming images and fantasía is commonly countable as una fantasía.

Other meanings

  • illusionnoun
  • daydreamnoun

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word