fan ‧ tas ‧ tic S3 /fænˈtæstɪk/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: French ; Origin: fantastique , from Greek phantastikos , from phantasia ; ⇨ ↑ fantasy ]
1 . extremely good, attractive, enjoyable etc:
You look fantastic!
It’s a fantastic place, really beautiful!
2 . spoken used when someone has just told you something good SYN excellent , wonderful :
‘I’ve passed my driving test.’ ‘Fantastic!’
That’s fantastic news!
3 . a fantastic amount is extremely large SYN huge :
Kids spend fantastic amounts of money on CDs.
4 . a fantastic plan, suggestion etc is not likely to be possible:
a fantastic scheme
5 . [only before noun] a fantastic story, creature, or place is imaginary and is very strange and magical SYN fantastical ⇨ fantasy 3 :
fantastic tales of dragons and fairy queens
—fantastically /-kli/ adverb
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THESAURUS
▪ fantastic/terrific spoken extremely good, in a way that makes you feel excited and happy – used mainly in spoken English:
The view from the top was fantastic.
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He did a fantastic job.
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That’s a terrific idea!
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‘I passed!’ ‘That’s terrific!’
▪ great spoken extremely good – used mainly in spoken English:
Thanks for a great afternoon.
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‘Did you have a good holiday?' ’It was great!'
▪ excellent extremely good – used especially about the quality of something. Excellent is more formal than fantastic/terrific or great , and is used in both spoken and written English:
Our local theatre has put on some excellent productions.
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It is an excellent film.
▪ wonderful extremely good in a way that impresses you or makes you very pleased:
She is really a wonderful person.
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That’s wonderful news!
▪ marvellous British English , marvelous American English extremely good in a way that impresses you or makes you very pleased. Marvellous sounds a little old-fashioned, but is still fairly common:
We had a marvellous dinner at a little restaurant near the hotel.
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Martino’s performance was marvelous.
▪ amazing extremely good in a surprising and exciting way:
Standing there on top of Mount Fuji was an amazing experience.
▪ incredible extremely good in a surprising and exciting way. Incredible is often used when something is so good that it almost seems unlikely:
What a goal! That was incredible!
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It was an incredible moment - one that I will never forget.
▪ brilliant British English informal extremely good:
‘How was your trip?’ ‘Absolutely brilliant!’
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What a brilliant idea!
▪ be out of this world used when saying that something is so good that you cannot imagine anything better:
Their desserts are out of this world.