fantasist

fantasist — noun

1. a person who regularly imagines events or situations that are not real, often fi

1.nounC1
Definition

a person who regularly imagines events or situations that are not real, often finding it difficult to tell the difference between imagination and actual life

Example

Nadia told such wild stories that her friends called her a harmless fantasist.

collocation: call someone a fantasist

The novel's hero is a fantasist who builds an imaginary world to escape her unhappy home.

pattern: a fantasist who [verb phrase]

Common collocations
  • harmless fantasist
  • pathological fantasist
  • dismiss someone as a fantasist
  • call someone a fantasist
  • describe someone as a fantasist
Synonyms
  • dreamer

    more neutral and common; suggests vague hopes or aspirations rather than elaborate invented scenarios

  • daydreamer

    milder; implies occasional drifting of attention, not a habitual disconnection from reality

  • visionary

    positive; describes someone with original ideas about the future, not someone detached from reality

  • fabulist

    more formal and literary; often implies deliberate invention or deception through storytelling

Antonyms
  • realist

    someone who sees and accepts things as they really are

  • pragmatist

    someone guided by practical considerations rather than imagination

Usage Note

Often implies a disconnection from reality outside of creative contexts. In literary criticism the term can be neutral, describing authors skilled at inventing elaborate fictional worlds.

Common Mistakes

My younger brother is a fantasist who dreams of becoming a firefighter.
My younger brother is a dreamer who dreams of becoming a firefighter.
'fantasist' suggests someone who creates detailed unreal scenarios, not someone with ordinary ambitions.
She is a fantasy who cannot stop telling lies.
She is a fantasist who cannot stop telling lies.
'fantasy' is the imaginary content itself; 'fantasist' is the person who produces it.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Fantasist, dreamer, daydreamer, visionary, and fabulist all describe people engaged with imagination, but they differ in intensity and connotation. A dreamer has vague hopes or aspirations that may be unrealistic ("a dreamer who wants to open a bookshop") and the word is often slightly affectionate. A daydreamer is someone whose attention briefly wanders during class or a meeting — a mild, temporary state. A fantasist goes further, building elaborate, detailed unreal scenarios, and the term usually carries a negative edge: the person may be lying or losing touch with reality. A visionary is positive and admired: someone whose bold ideas shape the future, like an architect or tech entrepreneur. A fabulist is the most literary and formal, describing someone who invents stories or entire mythologies, often with deceptive intent. While a fantasist might genuinely believe their inventions, a fabulist is more likely to be knowingly fabricating.

dreamer ↗daydreamervisionary ↗fabulist

Etymology

GreekLatinFrenchEnglish

Formed from 'fantasy' (from Old French 'fantasie', meaning imagination or mental image) and the suffix '-ist', which denotes a person who does or believes something. The word traces back through Latin 'phantasia' to Greek 'phantasia' (imagination, appearance), from 'phainein' (to show or appear). It entered English in the mid-20th century as a less common alternative to 'fantasizer'.