THE FIRST WORD

phantasmagoria

PRONUNCIATION:

(fan-taz-muh-GOR-ee-uh) 

MEANING:

noun:
1. A shifting scene made up of many elements.
2. A sequence of fantastic imagery, illusions, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French fantasmagorie, from fantasme (phantasm), perhaps combined with Greek agora (assembly). Earliest documented use: 1802.

NOES:

In the late 18th and 19th century, use of a magic lantern (an early form of slide projector) to display fantastic images was popular. It was known as a phantasmagoria and was first exhibited in London in 1802.

USAGE:

"We are increasingly immersed in a phantasmagoria of screens and streams and tunes."
Tom & Jeanne Lombardo; Mind Flight: A Journey Into the Future; Xlibris; 2011.