from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.
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2. Conceived in the fancy; not consistent with facts or
reason; abounding in ideal qualities or figures; as, a
fanciful scheme; a fanciful theory.
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3. Curiously shaped or constructed; as, she wore a fanciful
headdress.
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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.
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