Fantasticating

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Indulging in flights of fancy or daydreaming about things that are unlikely or impossible
2. Letting the imagination run wild with unrealistic or whimsical thoughts and scenarios
3. Engaging in imaginative speculation or fantasizing about situations that are improbable or purely invented

Etymology: "Fantasticating" is the present participle of "fantasticate," a rare English verb meaning to indulge in fanciful imaginings or to make something fantastic. It is one of many English verbs built on the adjective "fantastic" with the Latin-derived "-ate" ending, the same pattern seen in "animate" and "evaporate." The root "fantastic" passed into English from Old French "fantastique," which came from Latin "phantasticus" and ultimately from Greek "phantastikos," meaning "able to present to the mind." That Greek adjective derives from "phantazein," "to make visible," which is related to "phainein," "to show." So the earliest sense of the family was about bringing an image into view, and imagining was once understood as a kind of showing before the mind's eye.