• (RP) IPA: /ˌfæntæzməˈɡɒɹi.ə/
• (America) IPA: /ˌfæntæzməˈɡɔːɹi.ə/

phantasmagoria (plural phantasmagorias)

1. (historical) A popular 18th- and 19th-century form of theatre entertainment whereby ghostly apparitions are formed.

   Synonyms: magic lantern

2. A series of events involving rapid changes in light intensity and colour.
3. A dreamlike state where real and imagined elements are blurred together.
   • 1815 February 23, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. [...] In Three Volumes, volume (please specify ), Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], OCLC 742335644 ↗:

   • 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life Chapter V

     It is impossible to convey, in words, any idea of the hideous phantasmagoria of shifting limbs and faces which moved through the evil-smelling twilight of this terrible prison-house. Callot might have drawn it, Dante might have suggested it, but a minute attempt to describe its horrors would but disgust. There are depths in humanity which one cannot explore, as there are mephitic caverns into which one dare not penetrate.

• French: fantasmagorie
• German: Phantasmagorie
• Russian: фантасмаго́рия
• Spanish: fantasmagoria