fantasm

[fan-taz-uh m]

noun

phantasm.

phantasm

or fan·tasm

[fan-taz-uhm]

noun

an apparition or specter.

a creation of the imagination or fancy; fantasy.

a mental image or representation of a real object.

an illusory likeness of something.

Origin of phantasm

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

Synonyms for phantasm

1. ghost, vision. 4. hallucination, illusion.

Synonym study

1. See apparition.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for fantasm

Historical Examples of fantasm

Later still, they found a little water poured in a basin or held in the hollow of the hand showed as true a fantasm.
The Thing from the Lake
Eleanor M. Ingram
Then I was right in calling you a dreamer, for love itself is a fantasm inspired by hope or memory.
With Edge Tools
Hobart Chatfield-Taylor

British Dictionary definitions for fantasm

fantasm

noun

an archaic spelling of phantasm

Derived Formsfantasmal or fantasmic, adjectivefantasmally or fantasmically, adverb

phantasm

noun

a phantom

an illusory perception of an object, person, etc

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

Derived Formsphantasmal or phantasmic, adjectivephantasmally or phantasmically, adverb

Word Origin for phantasm

C13: from Old French fantasme, from Latin phantasma, from Greek; related to Greek phantazein to cause to be seen, from phainein to show

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fantasm

phantasm

early 13c., fantesme, from Old French fantosme "a dream, illusion, fantasy; apparition, ghost, phantom" (12c.), and directly from Latin phantasma "an apparition, specter," from Greek phantasma "image, phantom, apparition; mere image, unreality," from phantazein "to make visible, display," from stem of phainein "to bring to light, make appear; come to light, be seen, appear; explain, expound, inform against; appear to be so," from PIE root *bha- (1) "to shine" (cf. Sanskrit bhati "shines, glitters," Old Irish ban "white, light, ray of light"). Spelling conformed to Latin from 16c. (see ph). A spelling variant of phantom, "differentiated, but so that the differences are elusive" [Fowler].

fantasm in Medicine

phantasm

[făn′tăz′əm]

n.

Something apparently seen but having no physical reality; an apparition.

An illusory mental image.