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

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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

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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

Explanation

If you've ever caught a glimpse of a ghostly figure late at night, you've seen a phantasm — something that only appears to exist. A phantasm is an apparition or ghost, something that seems very real when you see it but less so as time goes by. It's not real, but an illusion or brief hallucination that might be caused by a vivid dream, illness, or a lack of sleep. The Greek root is phantasma, "image or phantom," with in turn comes from phantazein, "to make visible."

Example Sentences

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

From Salon • Nov. 16, 2024

A hellish phantasm of a doe-human hybrid that will definitely stalk and kill you in a dream tonight?

From The Guardian • Aug. 12, 2019

“It’s like a gargoyle with weird green eyes that pulls on my hair or nibbles my ear”—he jerked his head away and smiled reprovingly at the phantasm.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 11, 2019

But “the next Bobby Fischer” is a phantasm, a mirage, a point on the horizon always receding, as it should, and the phrase itself should be exiled like its namesake was.

From Slate • Nov. 16, 2018

This position in the orchestra, but putative, conceived as a feint to draw me away from my fellows so that rogues might throw me in chains—this phantasm might now be conjured to solidity.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson