Adjacent Words

Phantom definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PHAN'TOM, n. [L.phantasma.]
1. Something that appears; an apparition; a specter.
Strange phantoms rising as the mists arise.
2. A fancied vision.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: something apparently sensed but having no physical reality; "seemed to hear faint phantom bells"; "the amputee's illusion of a phantom limb" n
1: a ghostly appearing figure; "we were unprepared for the apparition that confronted us" [syn: apparition, phantom, phantasm, phantasma, fantasm, specter, spectre]
2: something existing in perception only; "a ghostly apparition at midnight" [syn: apparition, phantom, phantasm, phantasma, fantasm, shadow]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English fantosme, fantome, from Anglo-French fantosme phantasm Date: 14th century 1. a. something (as a specter) apparent to sense but with no substantial existence ; apparition b. something elusive or visionary ; will-o'-the-wisp c. an object of continual dread or abhorrence ; bugbear <the phantom of disease and want> 2. something existing in appearance only 3. a representation of something abstract, ideal, or incorporeal <she was a phantom of delight — William Wordsworth> • phantomlike adverb or adjective II. adjective Date: 15th century 1. of the nature of, suggesting, or being a phantom ; illusory 2. fictitious, dummy <phantom voters>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. 1 a ghost; an apparition; a spectre. 2 a form without substance or reality; a mental illusion. 3 Med. a model of the whole or part of the body used to practise or demonstrate operative or therapeutic methods. --adj. merely apparent; illusory. Phrases and idioms: phantom circuit an arrangement of telegraph or other electrical wires equivalent to an extra circuit. phantom limb a continuing sensation of the presence of a limb which has been amputated. phantom pregnancy Med. the symptoms of pregnancy in a person not actually pregnant. Etymology: ME f. OF fantosme ult. f. Gk phantasma (as PHANTASM)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Phantom Phan"tom, a. Being, or of the nature of, a phantom. Phantom isles are floating in the skies. --B. Taylor.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Phantom Phan"tom, n. [OE. fantome, fantosme, fantesme, OF. fant[^o]me, fr. L. phantasma, Gr. ?, fr. ? to show. See Fancy, and cf. Pha["e]ton, Phantasm, Phase.] That which has only an apparent existence; an apparition; a specter; a phantasm; a sprite; an airy spirit; an ideal image. Strange phantoms rising as the mists arise. --Pope. She was a phantom of delight. --Wordsworth. Phantom ship. See Flying Dutchman, under Flying. Phantom tumor (Med.), a swelling, especially of the abdomen, due to muscular spasm, accumulation of flatus, etc., simulating an actual tumor in appearance, but disappearing upon the administration of an an[ae]sthetic.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(phantoms) 1. A phantom is a ghost. They vanished down the stairs like two phantoms... N-COUNT 2. You use phantom to describe something which you think you experience but which is not real. She was always taking days off for what her colleagues considered phantom illnesses. ...a phantom pregnancy. ADJ: ADJ n 3. Phantom can refer to something that is done by an unknown person, especially something criminal. ...victims of alleged 'phantom' withdrawals from high-street cash machines. ADJ: ADJ n 4. Phantom is used to describe business organizations, agreements, or goods which do not really exist, but which someone pretends do exist in order to cheat people. ...a phantom trading scheme at a Wall Street investment bank. ADJ: ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Spectre, apparition, vision, airy spirit, ghost. 2. Manikin.

Moby Thesaurus

Barmecidal, Barmecide, Dracula, Frankenstein, Masan, Wolf-man, air, airy, airy nothing, apparent, apparition, apparitional, appearance, asomatous, astral, astral spirit, autistic, banshee, bodiless, bogey, bogeyman, brainchild, bubble, bugaboo, bugbear, chimaera, chimera, chimeric, control, decarnate, decarnated, deceptive, delirium, delusion, delusional, delusionary, delusive, delusory, departed spirit, dereistic, discarnate, disembodied, disembodied spirit, dreamlike, dreamy, duppy, dybbuk, ectoplasmic, eidolon, erroneous, ether, ethereal, etheric, extramundane, fallacious, false, false image, fancy, fantasque, fantastic, fantasy, fee-faw-fum, fiction, figment, figure, form, frightener, ghost, ghostish, ghostlike, ghostly, ghosty, ghoul, grateful dead, guide, hallucination, hant, haunt, hobgoblin, holy terror, horror, idle fancy, idolum, illusion, illusional, illusionary, illusive, illusory, image, imagery, imaginary, imagination, imagining, immaterial, immateriality, impalpable, imponderable, incorporate, incorporeal, incorporeal being, incorporeity, incubus, insubstantial, insubstantial image, intangible, invention, larva, lemures, maggot, make-believe, manes, materialization, mirage, misleading, mist, monster, myth, nightmare, nonmaterial, nonphysical, occult, ogre, ogress, oni, ostensible, otherworldly, phantasm, phantasma, phantasmagoria, phantasmagoric, phantasmal, phantasmic, phantomic, phantomlike, phasm, phenomenon, poltergeist, presence, psychic, revenant, romance, scarebabe, scarecrow, scarer, seeming, self-deceptive, self-deluding, shade, shadow, shadowy, shape, shrouded spirit, sick fancy, smoke, specious, specter, specterlike, spectral, spectral ghost, spectrum, spirit, spiritual, spook, sprite, succubus, supernatural, supposititious, terror, theophany, thick-coming fancies, thin air, transmundane, trip, unactual, unearthly, unembodied, unextended, unfleshly, unfounded, unphysical, unreal, unsubstantial, unsubstantiality, unworldly, vampire, vapor, vision, visionary, waking dream, walking dead man, wandering soul, werewolf, whim, whimsy, wildest dream, wildest dreams, wraith, wraithlike, wraithy, zombie