phantasm

American  

[fan-taz-uhm] / ˈfæn tæz əm /

Sometimes fantasm

noun

1. an apparition or specter.

   Synonyms:

   vision, ghost

2. a creation of the imagination or fancy; fantasy.

3. a mental image or representation of a real object.

4. an illusory likeness of something.

   Synonyms:

   illusion, hallucination

---

phantasm British  

/ ˈfæntæzəm /

noun

1. a phantom

2. an illusory perception of an object, person, etc

3. (in the philosophy of Plato) objective reality as distorted by perception

---

Related Words

See apparition.

Other Word Forms

• phantasmal adjective
• phantasmally adverb

Etymology

Origin of phantasm

First recorded in 1175–1225; from Latin phantasma, from Greek phántasma “image, vision” (akin to phantázein “to bring before the mind”); replacing Middle English fantesme, from Old French, from Latin as above

Example Sentences

Some are wildly extravagant, proliferating heads and arms into delirious phantasms of multiple personality and manifold temperaments.

From Los Angeles Times

David Hume, the 18th Century philosopher, described it as “the phantasm of the senses.”

From Salon

Even the implicit promise of a male-oriented community is a phantasm.

From Salon

And before that, I was reading accounts of specters and phantasms at a home built in the early 1800s.

From Seattle Times

Like most of the fears that animate the right, that's a phantasm, propped up to keep their adrenaline coursing and their rational faculties shut down.

From Salon