figment

[ fig-muhnt ]

noun

1. a mere product of mental invention; a fantastic notion:

   The noises in the attic were just a figment of his imagination.

2. a feigned, invented, or imagined story, theory, etc.:

   biographical and historical figments.

figment

/ ˈfɪɡmənt /

noun

1. a fantastic notion, invention, or fabrication

   a figment of the imagination

Word History and Origins

Origin of figment¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin figmentum “something made or feigned,” equivalent to fig- (base of fingere “to mold, feign”) + -mentum -ment; fiction ( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of figment¹

C15: from Late Latin figmentum a fiction, from Latin fingere to shape

Synonym Study

See fiction.

Example Sentences

Other classic Halloween characters, like ghosts, are just figments of our imagination.

From Science News For Students

That’s a figment of his imagination and obviously being used for political advancement.

From MIT Technology Review

Instead, it sets up an end-of-first-act plot twist where we find out that Joe has been talking to a figment of his imagination all along.

From Washington Blade

This is Sam’s “double,” a figment of his imagination that offers advice that often contradicts what Sam wants to do.

From Washington Post

The “discourse” online is between figments of ourselves, ghosts in dialogue.

From Fortune

But it turns out The Furies of Maidan is not a figment of his imagination.

From The Daily Beast

Equally divided consensus says: a figment of her imagination, or Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr.

From The Daily Beast

Despite aural evidence to the contrary, Mr. Bhatt, however, insisted the noise was a figment of my imagination.

From The Daily Beast

We gave America its gangster legends—but our guy, Al Capone, was real, not a fictional figment like Vito Corleone or Tony Soprano.

From The Daily Beast

That this whole thing was a figment of Mr. Hamblen's imagination.

From Project Gutenberg

This indeed was his spiritual and mental reality for her; the rest of him was a figment, a dream that might pass suddenly away.

From Project Gutenberg

And yet it is not true that matter is a pure figment of the imagination; it has an existence of its own, a potential existence.

From Project Gutenberg

The forms of government are abstractions, not names of realities, and their 'mixture' is a pure figment.

From Project Gutenberg

It was not that to my feelings the obligations were really a mere figment of pretence.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• daydream