phantasms

noun

variants also fantasms
plural of phantasm
1
as in illusions
a conception or image created by the imagination and having no objective reality frightened by the phantasms of his own making

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in apparitions
the soul of a dead person thought of especially as appearing to living people believed that she'd seen the phantasm of her father on the anniversary of his death

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for phantasms
  1. illusions
  2. apparitions
  3. visions
  4. spirits
  5. dreams
  6. ghosts
  7. fantasies
  8. shadows
Noun
  • Neither of them, however, had any illusions about his prospects.
    — Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker, 13 July 2026
  • Because only in intense, rarefied states will our illusions finally drop away, like redundant scaffolding, freeing us to perceive life on a more visceral level.
    — Sebastian Smee, The Atlantic, 11 July 2026
Definition of illusions
Noun
  • Today, the massive complex attracts paranormal investigators who report apparitions, voices, and other unexplained phenomena.
    — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 15 June 2026
  • Why then, when discussing body image after weight changes, is our culture reaching for the language of vexing apparitions and death?
    — Virgie Tovar, Forbes.com, 14 June 2026
Definition of apparitions
Noun
  • Jupiter in Leo will form an inspiring trine to Neptune retrograde in Aries while also opposing Pluto retrograde in Aquarius, creating a push-and-pull between our visions for the future and the inevitable transformation at play.
    — Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 20 July 2026
  • America at 250 seems stuck in a miasma of rival populisms that offer irreconcilable visions for curing what ails our country.
    — Will Marshall, Washington Post, 18 July 2026
Definition of visions
Noun
  • Further lifting Toohey’s spirits is his former high school roommate Lachlan Olbrich.
    — Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 15 July 2026
  • Space opened up and despite trailing, Argentine spirits were lifted.
    — Aleks Klosok, CNN Money, 15 July 2026
Definition of spirits
Noun
  • That’s what happens when a party and its voters stop seriously competing and instead indulge their passions and fever dreams.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 19 July 2026
  • Its warble seemed the embodiment of dreams, that melted meeting point between memories and fantasy.
    — Sam Goldner, Pitchfork, 19 July 2026
Definition of dreams
Noun
  • Petrarch pictures the ghosts of Homer and Ennius together, and Homer’s ghost points out to Ennius a solitary figure, Francescus, working on a great epic poem, Africa.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 17 July 2026
  • Within its pages, the reader becomes one of Dan Tana’s beloved ghosts.
    — Maddie Connors, Los Angeles Times, 14 July 2026
Definition of ghosts
Noun
  • Marina, however, is not looking to the west; her dream is to go further east on a trip fueled by fantasies that her real father was a Russian soldier, if her mother’s secret cache of love letters are anything to go by.
    — Damon Wise, Deadline, 11 July 2026
  • Indeed, Brocka insists on escapist fantasies in a world that otherwise offers no escape, which, in my view, is more hopeful than bleak — and, in turn, allows this kind of gritty sensuality to persist in his ever-enduring, luminous cinema.
    — Lé Baltar, IndieWire, 10 July 2026
Definition of fantasies
Noun
  • But out of the shadows emerges a former soldier known only as Berry, who starts building a secret resistance network.
    — Alex Ritman, Variety, 15 July 2026
  • Blume’s unobtrusive handiwork lifts Show Me the Body out of the shadows without sun-bleaching their craggy exterior.
    — Eli Enis, Pitchfork, 15 July 2026
Definition of shadows
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

phantasmic
phantasms
phantom
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Cite this Entry

“Phantasms.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phantasms. Accessed 21 Jul. 2026.

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