figments

noun

plural of figment
1
as in illusions
a conception or image created by the imagination and having no objective reality 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

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2
as in fictions
something that is the product of the imagination thus far, the invisible human being has been nothing more than a figment of fantasy writers

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of figments Pína and Hawk mysteriously slip out while Joe and Angela are in the kitchen, suggesting that the adventurous lovemakers may have just been figments of their imagination. — Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 11 July 2026 That description is essentially true; as a puppet designer and puppeteer, his job entails figuring out how to materialize figments of the imagination. — Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 7 Apr. 2026 Boone is relentlessly hounded by figments of his guilty memory, by other ghosts, and by his daughter—all of whom emphasize his nefarious role in delaying action to combat climate change. — Julius Taranto, The Atlantic, 27 Jan. 2026 On the live stream, Nacua questioned whether head injuries are real or just figments of the imagination. — Nate Atkins, New York Times, 16 Jan. 2026 Are the protagonist’s past lives real, or just figments of his psychosis? — Literary Hub, 25 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for figments
  1. illusions
  2. fictions
  3. dreams
  4. fantasies
  5. visions
  6. tales
  7. daydreams
  8. fabrications
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
  • Invasion fictions tended to spring up in response to each new form of invasion panic.
    — Ivan Kreilkamp, JSTOR Daily, 10 June 2026
  • The program also happens to be in line with one of the president’s convenient rhetorical fictions.
    — Will Gottsegen, The Atlantic, 21 May 2026
Definition of fictions
Noun
  • Young Wifredo loved drawing images from his dreams and was later sent to art school to study the work of the European masters.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 3 Aug. 2026
  • Her fever dreams were of floating untethered in an infinite black space, of being trapped in a blinding spotlight on an empty stage, not knowing how or where to move.
    — Rachel Yoder, New Yorker, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of dreams
Noun
  • The return to a golden age of normalcy was one of the most powerful pandemic-era fantasies.
    — Mitch Therieau, New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2026
  • Your routine could feel unbearably repetitive, sparking fantasies of abandoning the whole thing.
    — Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 31 July 2026
Definition of fantasies
Noun
  • Tens of millions of dollars have poured into Florida campaigns from companies with visions of transforming vast stretches of land in the state’s rural pockets into warehouses.
    — South Florida Sun Sentinel, Sun Sentinel, 3 Aug. 2026
  • The winner will immediately face the task of bringing together supporters of two candidates who have offered different visions for the party and whose campaigns have grown increasingly contentious in the closing weeks.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of visions
Noun
  • The writers of these biblical tales weren’t plagiarizing Homer, MacDonald says.
    — John Blake, CNN Money, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Some sixteen years later, pop Bildung abounds, thanks largely to online fan communities who can weave the most obscure ephemera into epic tales of redemption.
    — Mitch Therieau, New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of tales
Noun
  • And amidst the momentum of reverie, there’s the line ‘Blink at the light and hope to survive,’ because daydreams in a fascist state can be scary too.
    — Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 23 June 2026
  • One-touch passing, feinting and ripping hard shots into a tattered net, each is super-charged by vivid daydreams of glory on the international stage.
    — Jason Motlagh, Rolling Stone, 22 June 2026
Definition of daydreams
Noun
  • Cyber criminals are using highly convincing counterfeit audio, video, and identity fabrications as tools in ways that conventional detection methods will fail to identify.
    — Chuck Brooks, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
  • Be sure to choose a longline style with a menswear feel (think pleats, textural fabrications, and more).
    — Kristina Rutkowski, Vogue, 31 July 2026
Definition of fabrications

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figment
figments
figs
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Cite this Entry

“Figments.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/figments. Accessed 5 Aug. 2026.

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