variants
also fantasm
1
as in illusion
a conception or image created by the imagination and having no objective reality
frightened by the phantasms of his own making
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in apparition
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
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Recent Examples of phantasm
Those are all real things, not the phantasms of a junk-food loving fourth-grader’s fever dreams.
—
Emily Heil, Washington Post, 22 Aug. 2023
And sometimes the phantasms of artificial intelligence can prompt, in the prompter, genuine emotion.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2023
But eventually, the duo turned the phantasm into solid logic.
—Quanta Magazine, 15 July 2021
Southern lawmakers baselessly claimed Black men were lynched for raping White women -- a phantasm that still haunts Black men -- and asserted laws governing lynchings were best left to the states.
—Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN, 27 May 2021
See All Example Sentences for phantasm
Emily Heil, Washington Post, 22 Aug. 2023
And sometimes the phantasms of artificial intelligence can prompt, in the prompter, genuine emotion.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2023
But eventually, the duo turned the phantasm into solid logic.
—Quanta Magazine, 15 July 2021
Southern lawmakers baselessly claimed Black men were lynched for raping White women -- a phantasm that still haunts Black men -- and asserted laws governing lynchings were best left to the states.
—Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN, 27 May 2021
See All Example Sentences for phantasm
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phantasm
Noun
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Inspired by mirrors, which reflect reality while simultaneously generating illusion, the collection explored the tension between the two.—
Denni Hu,
Footwear News,
17 Oct. 2025
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Her research examines people’s beliefs about what others think of them, including illusions and biases that can interfere with social connection, and interventions to improve people’s social lives.—
Maya Rossignac-Milon
Erica Boothby,
CNBC,
17 Oct. 2025
Noun
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In Good Boy, Indy investigates strange noises and ghostly apparitions in the remote country house.—
Laura Martin,
Vulture,
6 Oct. 2025
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In winter, breath crystallizes in the air, and the animals resemble pale apparitions in an otherworldly landscape of snow and ice.—
Susan Portnoy,
AFAR Media,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Though her identity is not at first known to Benedict, the woman turns out to be Sophie Baek, a secretive maid with big dreams.—
Ryan Schwartz,
TVLine,
13 Oct. 2025
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With each brick laid at The Site, The Toy will document dad’s decades-long dream.—
Dana Harris-Bridson,
IndieWire,
13 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Families are turning dinner into an activity by using pizza dough or premade crusts to mold fun, spooky shapes, like ghosts, pumpkins, and bats, before topping them with sauce, cheese, and all their favorite fixings.—
Elizabeth Fogarty,
Better Homes & Gardens,
18 Oct. 2025
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The Chicago Tribune reported that the empty lot where Gacy's house once stood became a tourist attraction for true crime fans and ghost hunters in the 1980s.—
Jessica Sager,
PEOPLE,
18 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The documentary will trace Suzuki’s singular vision through rare archival material, interviews with Suzuki himself, his regular leading man Joe Shishido, and longtime production designer Takeo Kimura, alongside contemporary directors inspired by his work.—
Lise Pedersen,
Variety,
17 Oct. 2025
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This season, fluorescent pink, blue and white formed a rational yet romantic palette — a vision of a young schoolgirl poised to step into the real world.—
Denni Hu,
Footwear News,
17 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Understanding neutrinos’ properties could help explain how how the universe formed, how stars evolve and whether neutrinos, which pass through the Earth and even our bodies like phantoms, are their own antiparticles.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
8 Oct. 2025
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Staff also report hearing phantom singing in the visitors' area and a mysterious spirit rearranging the coins in the gift shop register.—
Paige Moore,
AZCentral.com,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Don’t let delusions (especially those planted by gaslighters) guide your thoughts and heart.—
Lisa Stardust,
Refinery29,
14 Oct. 2025
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Chatbots are known to validate users’ obsessions and delusions, and most of the litigation around this phenomenon has so far pertained to self-harm, as in the suits Jain has brought against OpenAI and Character Technologies.—
Miles Klee,
Rolling Stone,
11 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The cringing mortifications and unsettling unreality make the series a tough sit.—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
11 Oct. 2025
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Longtime Vogue readers can likely recognize Steven Klein’s photographs at a glance, what with their glaring colors, arresting compositions, and beguiling sense of unreality.—
Vogue,
Vogue,
7 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Phantasm.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phantasm. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
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