The term fantasmeo means to waste time. It is a conjugation of the verb “fantasmear”, a meaning that is used in Puerto Rico as the act of wasting time or something that is unclear and strange.
It can also mean – depending on the region of Latin America – to look sideways in whispers, or to exaggerate and boast boastfully. In some cases it can be used to designate a furtive pursuit of someone.
SYNONYMS FOR Fantasmeo
- To exaggerate, to boast
- To waste time
- Imagining, thinking
- Running away, deserting, disappearing
- To sneak in
ORIGIN OF Fantasmeo
The origin is not clear, but its definition and meaning depends on the country where it is used. There are sites specialized in compiling several Latin Americanisms and among them appears fantasmear.
In Puerto Rico, Argentina and Venezuela they have different meanings, for example: in Argentina it is used when we want to say that someone imagines things, not only supernatural things, but things that are not. It also refers to a person who suddenly disappears from an effective relationship.
Or in Venezuela it refers to the action of appearing spontaneously in some place, without prior knowledge of the event being attended and those who organize it, therefore it is said: “¡tú lo que viniste es a fantasmear!” referring to that person who “sneaked” into the party with or without the consent of the guests.
CURIOSITIES OF Fantasmeo
In the Google search engine this word appears as a Spanish colloquialism that means “To say or do fantasmadas” fantasmadas is ‘to imagine things’, or ‘to hallucinate’.
Fantasmear is a term that appears in the 2009 edition of the Vox Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Larousse Publishing House, precisely as: “the action of persuading by boasting, bragging and exaggeration” that is, when someone demonstrates an attitude that he/she possesses many goods and boasts about it.