figment

noun

fig·​ment ˈfig-mənt 

: something made up or contrived

Did you know?

A figment is something formed from imaginary elements. Daydreams are figments; nightmares are figments that can seem very real. Most figments are everyday fears and hopes about small things that turn out to be imaginary. But when the radio play "The War of the Worlds" aired in 1938, it caused a panic among thousands of people who didn't realize the Martian invasion was just a figment of the author's imagination.

Synonyms

• chimera
• conceit
• daydream
• delusion
• dream
• fancy
• fantasy
• phantasy
• hallucination
• illusion
• nonentity
• phantasm
• fantasm
• pipe dream
• unreality
• vision

Examples of figment in a Sentence

unable to find any tracks in the snow the next morning, I was forced to conclude that the shadowy figure had been a figment of my imagination

thus far, the invisible human being has been nothing more than a figment of fantasy writers

Recent Examples on the Web

Fusion energy, long a figment of science fiction, may become a viable source of power in the coming decades. —Kelly Sims Gallagher, Foreign Affairs, 23 Apr. 2024

Soon, though, her world is turned upside down by an unsettling and persistent stalker — or just a figment of her own fracturing psyche. —Chris Snellgrove, EW.com, 24 Oct. 2023

The alliance forged between American diplomacy and modern art against Soviet propaganda isn’t a figment of the author’s hyperactive imagination. —Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 3 Feb. 2024

But is the spider real or a figment of Jakub's imagination? —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 16 Jan. 2024

Sometimes this country doesn’t seem to stand at all, but instead to be a figment of our individual and collective imaginations—small bubbles, communities that overlap or sit side by side, sometimes in harmony, often in opposition, but somehow still holding together. —Kim Ghattas, The Atlantic, 26 Jan. 2024

Christie’s entire conceit is a fiction, a figment, a mirage — that is, a lie. —Varad Mehta, Washington Examiner, 28 Dec. 2023

Hell is a hallucinatory figment, but the streets of Los Angeles can get uncomfortably hot too. —Daniel Miller, Los Angeles Times, 22 Dec. 2023

The international threat is still a figment of the BJP’s imagination. —Hartosh Singh Bal, Foreign Affairs, 8 Dec. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, "fable, deceitful practice," borrowed from Latin figmentum "thing formed, image, invention," from fig-, variant stem of fingere "to mold, fashion, make a likeness of, pretend to be" + -mentum -ment — more at feign

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing figment

• a figment of one's imagination

Kids Definition

figment

noun

fig·​ment ˈfig-mənt 

: something imagined or made up