Phantasize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To imagine or envision something that is not real, often indulging in daydreams about an ideal scenario or situation
2. Engaging in fanciful thinking by creating elaborate mental images or scenarios that have no basis in reality
3. The act of constructing vivid, imaginative fantasies in one's mind, typically involving unrealistic elements or desires

Etymology: "Phantasize" is an older spelling of "fantasize," and the verb is simply "fantasy" with the suffix "-ize" added. That suffix, which turns a noun into a verb meaning "to make into, or to do in the manner of," is the same one found in words like "apologize" and "criticize." So the verb's core is the noun "fantasy," which came into English from Old French and ultimately from Greek "phantasia," meaning "appearance" or "imagination," itself from "phainein," "to show" or "to bring to light." The spelling "phantasize" preserves the Greek "ph" that "fantasy" also keeps in its older form, which is why the older verb looks more classical than its modern counterpart. Over time, English dropped the "ph" in the everyday spelling while the Greek sense of mental images remained intact. In the verb, the sense moved from simply forming images in the mind toward the indulgent, idealized daydreaming that the word now usually describes.

Synonyms: fantasize, imagine, dream, envision, visualize

Antonyms: realize, actualize, face reality, acknowledge, accept