fantastic

Everyday

1. (informal) Fantastic means extremely good, wonderful: «a fantastic party». tree →
2. Fantastic means strange and imaginary, like something from a fantasy story: «fantastic creatures». tree →
3. (informal) A fantastic amount is very large: «a fantastic sum of money». tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life and school, teachers say «Fantastic work!» as praise. In reading lessons, fantastic beasts and fantastic worlds belong to fantasy stories, not real life. Phrases: «fantastic!», «a fantastic time», «fantastic beasts».

Examples

• We had a fantastic time at the beach. tree →
• Fantastic work on your story! tree →
• The book is full of fantastic creatures like dragons and griffins. tree →
• The view from the mountain was fantastic. tree →
• He told a fantastic tale about flying to the moon. tree →
• The prize was a fantastic amount of money. tree →
• The broken clouds hung in fantastic forms upon the wood-covered hills by the rapid Rhone. tree →

Note

Used a lot in speech; in careful writing, choose a more exact word (excellent, imaginative). Adverb: fantastically. Related: fantasy (imaginary stories). Old sense «imaginary» is still used in stories.