Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

fantasm

[fan-taz-uh m]
See more synonyms for fantasm on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. phantasm.
Show More

phantasm

or fan·tasm

[fan-taz-uh m]
noun
  1. an apparition or specter.
  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.
Show More

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

See more synonyms for phantasm on Thesaurus.com
1. ghost, vision. 4. hallucination, illusion.

Synonym study

1. See apparition.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for fantasm

Historical Examples

  • 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
  1. an archaic spelling of phantasm
Show More
Derived Formsfantasmal or fantasmic, adjectivefantasmally or fantasmically, adverb

phantasm

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
Show More
Derived Formsphantasmal or phantasmic, adjectivephantasmally or phantasmically, adverb

Word Origin

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

n.

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].

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
fantasm in Medicine

phantasm

(făn′tăz′əm)
n.
  1. Something apparently seen but having no physical reality; an apparition.
  2. An illusory mental image.
Show More
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.