Word of the Day

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Phantasmagoria

[fan-taz-mə-gohr-ee-ə]Part of speech: noun

Origin: french & greek, early 19th century

• A dreamlike state in which images both real or imagined blur together
• A constantly changing series of scenes or events that shift in color and intensity

Examples of Phantasmagoria in a sentence

• On the ride home, he unfocused his eyes so that the lights outside his window raced past in a brilliant phantasmagoria.
• The speed at which news happens and is communicated can blur into a confusing phantasmagoria of voices.

About Phantasmagoria

In the 18th and 19th centuries, a form of illusionistic entertainment became popular in which ghostly apparitions were "conjured" using a device called a magic lantern. The technique involved projecting a painting or other image onto a glass pane with an oil lamp. To the unwitting spectator, the flame's flicker in the glass produced an eerie, unsettling effect — or a phantasmagoria.

Did you Know?

While phantasmagoria is a direct translation from the French phantasmagorie, its origins actually date to Ancient Greece. As a compound word, phantasmagoria blends together the root phantasma, meaning "ghost," with the word agora, meaning "assembly."

Comments

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

It was nearing All Hallows 'Eve and Illya expected his partner would be luring the unsuspecting females in headquarters who were pulling night into listing to one of his chilling ghost stories. Then Kuryakin got the news that Solo would be away on assignment. He told Illya it was up to him to chill the ladies that night.

Napoleon's ultimate goal of those tales was to frighten one of the unsuspecting women into his arms, as a means of comfort, or for whatever might follow.

Kuryakin on the other hand would have no such scheme, his story telling would be to scare the living daylights out of the women with a tale of otherworldly terror...one that would make them wish Napoleon were here instead to do the telling. He'd use some technology to pull off this bit of phantasmagoria, and smiled at the prospect.

[pfrye.livejournal.com]

Mr. Waverly mentally chuckled to himself. He was amused at his two top agents and their reaction to, once again, having to listen to Mr. Pennyfeather, the head accountant of UNCLE New York. The pompous little man was ranting on and on about the agents creative expense reports. Napoleon Solo's eyes were unfocused and he stared out the window. The reflected sunlight and Pennyfeather's drone creating a phantasmagoria type state. Illya Kuryakin seemed to be paying attention however it was quite possible he was asleep.
"Well gentlemen......are you even paying attention?" the accountant squeaked, his outrage at being so obviously ignored evident.
"Of course" Kuryakin snapped.

[ssclassof56.livejournal.com]

For Illya, his head pounding like a set of bongos, the drive back to headquarters seemed to pass in a few phantasmagoric seconds.

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Good,solid writing and good use of the prompt.