Fanciful

Definition: Fanciful

Fanciful

Adjective

1. Indulging in or influenced by fancy; "a fanciful mind"; "all the notional vagaries of childhood".

2. Not based on fact; dubious; "the falsehood about some fanciful secret treaties"- F.D.Roosevelt; "a small child's imaginary friends"; "her imagined fame"; "to create a notional world for oneself".

3. Having a curiously intricate quality; "a fanciful pattern with intertwined vines and flowers".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "fanciful" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1385. (references)

Synonyms: Fanciful

Caprice

Adjective: capricious; erratic, eccentric, fitful, hysterical; full of whims; Noun: maggoty; inconsistent, fanciful, fantastic, whimsical, crotchety, kinky, particular, humorsome, freakish, skittish, wanton, wayward; contrary; captious; arbitrary; unconformable; penny wise and pound foolish; fickle; (irresolute); frivolous, sleeveless, giddy, volatile.

Imagination

Idealist, romanticist, visionary; mopus; romancer, dreamer; somnambulist; rhapsodist; (fanatic); castle-buildier, fanciful projector.

Fabulous, legendary; mythical, mythic, mythological; chimerical; imaginary, visionary; notional; fancy, fanciful, fantastic, fantastical; whimsical; fairy, fairy-like; gestic.

Ridiculousness

Adjective: ridiculous, ludicrous; comical; droll, funny, laughable, pour rire, grotesque, farcical, odd; whimsical, whimsical as a dancing bear; fanciful, fantastic, queer, rum, quizzical, quaint, bizarre; screaming; eccentric; (unconformable); strange, outlandish, out of the way, baroque, weird; awkward; (ugly).

Crosswords: Fanciful

Books

• 1300 Real and Fanciful Animals: From Seventeenth-Century Engravings (Dover Pictorial Archive Series) (reference)

• Billy the Kid Cook Book: A Fanciful Look at the Recipes and Folklore from Billy the Kid Country (reference)

• Curious Woodcuts of Fanciful and Real Beasts: A Selection of 19O Sixteenth-Century Woodcuts from Gesner's and Topsell's Natural Histories (reference)

• Facts and Fanciful Tales of the Crescent City (reference)

• Perfumes, Potions and Fanciful Formulas (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• C. P. E. Bach: The Fanciful Flute; Five Sonatas for Flute and Harpsichord (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

High Tech

• Crayola Magic 3-D Coloring Book Fanciful Friends Ages 3-7 (reference)

  (more camera examples; more video game examples; more computer examples; more electronic examples; more software examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Fanciful view of Drake's Bay with the Drake's vessel, the GOLDEN HIND, at anchor Drake sailed on the California coast in 1577. In: "The Annals of San Francisco". Frank Soule, John Gihon, and James Nesbit. 1855. Frontispiece. D. Appleton & Company, New York. F869.S3.S7 1855. Credit: America's Coastlines.

A rather fanciful impression of the action, depicting USS Olympia, at left, and the Spanish cruiser Reina Cristina, at right, engaged in a gunnery duel. The original, from an artwork by F. Fetherstone, 1898, was printed on a stereograph card. Credit: NAVY.

Line engraving published in the "Hibernian Magazine", Dublin, Ireland, August 1776. As with most contemporary "Hibernian Magazine" portraits, this is probably a purely fanciful representation of the subject. The engraver also provided an incorrect forename for Hopkins. Credit: NAVY.

Fanciful portrait of person referred to so often in print as "Gentle Reader". Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Expression using "fanciful": fanciful projector. Additional references.

Ending with "fanciful": non-fanciful.

Albanian

fantastik (bizarre, chimerical, fantastic, fantastical), kapriçioz (capricious, crotchety, faddish, faddy, tricksy, vagarious, whimsical), imagjinar (fabulous, fancied, fantastic, fantastical, fictional, fictitious, fictive, imaginary, imaginative, unreal, visional, visionary), i çuditshëm (bizarre, cranky, curious, dark, eccentric, electric, erratic, extraordinary, fantastic, fantastical, frabjous, freak, freakish, funny, grotesque, kinky, odd, oddish, off beat, outlandish, peculiar, pixilated, puzzling, quaint, queer, quizzical, rummy, strange, surprising, uncanny, unco, unnatural, unusual, viewy, way out, weird, whimsical), ëndërrues (air-monger, castle builder, daydreamer, dreamer, faraway). (various references)

Arabic 

‏كثير الأوهام, ‏وهمي (airy, airy fairy, astral, chimerical, delusive, delusory, dummy, fallacious, fantastic, made up, mirage, mythical, notional, paper, phantom, putative, quixotic, romantic, subjective, unreal, unsubstantial, utopian, visionary), ‏غريب (absurd, alien, anomalous, antic, bizarre, eerie, eery, exotic, extraneous, foreign, freakish, funny, grotesque, intruder, ludicrous, new, odd, outlandish, outsider, peculiar, potty, quaint, queer, rum, senseless, singular, strange, stranger, tall, unaccustomed, uncanny, uncouth, unearthly, unfamiliar, unnatural, whimsical), ‏توهمي, ‏عجيب (amazement, bizarre, freakish, funny, marvellous, marvelous, odd, odd jobs, peculiar, phenomenal, portentous, prestigious, puzzling, rats, rum, staring, stupendous, tall, temperamental, weird, wonder, wonderful, wondrous), ‏خيالي (aerial, chimerical, conceptual, fancied, fancy, fantast, fantastic, fictional, fictitious, fictive, figment, ideal, ideational, imaginary, imaginative, impracticable, mythical, notional, quixotic, romantic, unreal, utopian, visionary). (various references)

Bulgarian 

чудноват (bizarre, fantastic, fantastical, freakish), фантазьорски (starry eyed, visionary), капризен (capricious, erratic, faddish, fantastic, fantastical, fastidious, fickle, fractious, freakish, freaky, fretful, ill, inconstant, maggoty, particular, petulant, skittish, tricksy, vagarious, vagrant, wayward, whimsical), особен (distinct, especial, exclusive, funny, idiosyncratic, individual, odd, original, particular, peculiar, queer, special, specific, strange, uncommon), нереален (aerial, aeriform, chimerical, ideal, insubstantial, metaphysical, unreal, unsubstantial, vaporous), непоследователен (contradictious, desultory, incoherent, inconsecutive, inconsequent, inconsequential, inconsistent, undigested), надарен с въображение, произволен (excursive, random, unwarranted, wanton, wildcat), претенциозен (bumptious, choosy, elaborate, fastidious, gingerly, high-toned, overblown, pretentious, showy, squeamish, studied, swanky). (various references)

Chinese 

稀奇. (various references)

Czech

fanatický (ardent, fanatic, fanatical, zealous), vrtošivý (erratic, incalculable, temperamental, wayward), smyšlený (fictional, fictitious), pestrý (bright, brightly colored, brightly coloured, chequered, colorful, colourful, gaily coloured, gaudy, gay, motley, multifarious, pied, varied, variegated), přezdobený, blouznivý (wild), bizarní (bizarre, fantastic, freak, outlandish, queer, weird). (various references)

Finnish

mielikuvituksellinen (fantastic, imaginary), haihatteleva (erratic), haaveellinen (dreamy, fantastic). (various references)

French

fantasque, fantaisiste, plein d'imagination, imaginaire (airy fairy, fairy, fancied, fancy, fantast), extravagant, capricieux (faddy). (various references)

German

phantasiereich (imaginative), phantastisch (awesomeUS, bizarre, chimeric, cracking, fantastic, fantastically, glorious, incredible, luscious, phenomenal, stupendous, terrific, unreal, visionarily, visionary). (various references)

Greek 

φαντασιώδησ (imaginary, visionary, whimsical), φαντασιόπληκτοσ (whimsical). (various references)

Hebrew 

�"מיו� י (airy fairy, fabulous, fairy, fancied, fantasy, fictitious, illusory, imaginary, imaginative, phantom, romantic, unreal, utopian, visionary). (various references)

Hungarian

különös (antic, arabesque, bizarre, bonkers, extraordinary, fantastic, fantastical, freaky, funny, outlandish, particular, peculiar, quaint, queer, rummy, singular, strange, uncommon), furcsa (bizarre, bonkers, cockeyed, curious, dorky, droll, fantasy, freakish, freaky, funny, grotesque, how odd that, kooky, louche, odd, outlandish, quaint, queer, quizzical, rum, rummy, strange, strange to say, weird), képzeletszőtte, irreális (fantastic, unreal), fantáziaszülte, bogaras (buggy, crazed, crazy, dorky, eccentric, have a little finger ache, kinky, maggoty). (various references)

Italian

fantastico (chimeric, crazy, eerie, fabled, fabulous, fancied, fantastic, fantastical, imaginary, imaginative, incredible, marvellous, marvelous, wonderful), fantasioso (imaginative, smashing), irreale (dreamy, unreal), immaginario (fictitious, fictive, imaginary, notional, pretentious, visionary), estroso (peculiar, strange, whimsical), capriccioso (capricious, flighty, freakish, maggoty, skittish, temperamental, wayward, whimsical, wilful, willful). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

架空　 (aerial, fiction, overhead), 架空 (aerial, fiction, overhead). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

かくう (aerial, fiction, overhead). (various references)

Korean 

기발한. (various references)

Manx

sheiltynagh (conjectural, imaginable, imaginary, imaginative, notional, presumable, putative, speculative, speculator, theoretic, theoretical, theorist, thinkable), fillosheragh (fancy, fussy). (various references)

Norwegian

fantasifull (imaginative). (various references)

Pig Latin

ancifulfay.(various references)

Portuguese

fantástico (chimerical, fantastic, fantastical, of fantasy, smashing, stupendous, unreal, whimsical), inconstante (astatic, capricious, changeable, changeful, desultory, fickle, flighty, giddy, impermanent, inconstant, light-minded, mutable, shifting, skittish, uncertain, unequable, unequal, unreliable, unstable, unsure, variable, versatile), caprichoso (arbitrary, cantankerous, caprice, capricious, crotchety, difficult, extravagant, faddist, fitful, freakish, kittle, maggoty, notional, peevish, skittish, temperamental, tidy, viewy, wayward, whim, whimsical). (various references)

Romanian

fantezist (capricious, fancy, fantastic, fantastical, invented, lunar, notionist, phantasmal, strange, whimsical), fantastic (arabesque, fabled, fabulous, fantastic, fantastical, fantasticalness, freakish, romantic, tall, tremendous, whimsical), ireal (aerial, aeriform, cardboard, fabled, fabulous, imaginary, phantasmal, unreal, vaporous), imaginar (aerial, fairy, fancied, imaginary, notional, subjective, unreal, visional, visionary, would be), cu toane (capricious, fancy, maggoty, Moody, wayward, whimsical, whimsy), ciudat (cranky, curious, droll, eccentric, extraordinary, extravagant, fancy, freakish, funny, intriguing, kinky, odd, out of the way, outlandish, particular, peculiar, peculiarly, quaint, queer, rum, rummy, singular, strange, strangely, uncouth, unusual, weird, whimsical), capricios (arbitrary, capricious, cranky, crotchety, difficult, fancy, fantastic, fantastical, fickle, fitful, fractious, freakish, frolic, Froward, humoursome, peevish, perverse, vagarious, wanton, wayward, whimsical, whimsy). (various references)

Russian 

фантастический (arabesque, fantastic, fantastical, futuristic, mythical). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

nestvaran (aeriform, chimerical, unreal), izmišljen (fictional, fictitious, made up). (various references)

Spanish

fantástico (eerie, fancy, fantastic, fantastical, lurid, neat, unrealistic, whimsical, wild), imaginativo (imaginative), imaginario (fancied, imaginary, notional, unreal, untrue), caprichoso (capricious, faddish, faddy, flighty, freak, freakish, hardheaded, headstrong, opinionated, skittish, temperamental, vagary, wanton, wayward, whimsical, wilful, willful), antojadizo (unpredictable, whimsical). (various references)

Swedish

nyckfull (capricious, faddish, fancy, fantastic, fantastical, fickle, flighty, freakish, skittish, uncertain, unpredictable, wayward, whimsical). (various references)

Thai

เพ้อฝัน (imaginative, romantic). (various references)

Turkish

fantastik (fantastic, fantastical, raving), kaprisli (capricious, fey, freakish, humoursome, notional, wayward, whimsey, whimsical, whimsy), hayalperest (day dreamer, dreamer, dreamy, escapist, illusionist, imaginative, notional, quixotic, stargazer, vaporous, visionary), hayali (aerial, airy, cardboard box, chimerical, delusive, Faerie, faery, fantastic, fantastical, fictional, fictitious, fictive, illusive, illusory, imaginary, imaginative, insubstantial, phantasmal, spectral, unreal, visionary), hayalci (day dreamer, imaginative, stargazer, visionary, wool gathering, woolgathering), hayal ürünü (fabulous, figment, figment of the imagination, imaginative, out of whole cloth), gerçek dışı (delusive, imaginary, insubstantial, phantasmal, unreal, unsubstantial), garip (awkward, bizarre, codger, comical, cranky, crotchety, curious, droll, eccentric, exotic, fancy, fantastic, fantastical, far out, freak, freakish, funny, funny peculiar, grotesque, kinky, odd, out of the way, outlandish, poor, queer, quizzical, rum, rummy, screwball, screwy, strange, weirdo, whimsical), acayip (antic, bizarre, bughouse, comical, comically, crotchety, curious, droll, exotic, fantastic, fantastical, flaky, freak, freakish, grotesque, incongruous, kinky, kooky, novel, odd, out of the way, outlandish, peculiar, quaint, queer, quirky, quizzical, rum, rummy, screwball, singular, some, splendiferous, strange, uncanny, unco, unusual, weird). (various references)

Ukrainian

химерний (arabesque, artsy-craftsy, arty-crafty, baroque, chimerical, conceited, freakish, notional, whimsical), фантастичний (airy, arabesque, chimerical, crackpot, fantastic, fantastical, moonshiny, mythic, mythical, romantic), примхливий (arbitrary, capricious, choice, cranky, fractious, freak, freakish, huffish, humorous, humous, inconstant, maggoty, naughty, notional, notionate, skittish, whimsey, whimsical, whimsy). (various references)

Vietnamese 

thích kỳ lạ kỳ cục, không có thật (bogus), kỳ khôi đ�"ng bóng tưởng tượng. (various references)

Welsh

ffansi%ol (pleasing the fancy). (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "fanciful": fancifully, fancifulness, fancifulnesses. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Fanciful" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Facefulls, fanaiful, faniful. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-2 letters: canful, uncial.

-3 letters: aulic, calif, cliff, final, linac, luffa, uncia.

-4 letters: alif, anil, caff, cain, calf, caul, clan, cuff, cuif, fail, fain, faun, fila, flan, flic, fuci, laic, lain, luff, luna, naif, nail, ulan, ulna, unai, unci.

-5 letters: aff, ail, ain, ani, can, fan, fil, fin, flu, fun, iff, lac, lin, nil.

+2 letters: fancifully, unofficial.

+3 letters: affluencies, ineffectual.

+4 letters: fancifulness, unofficially.

+5 letters: ineffectually, suffocatingly.