phantasmal

adjective

Definition of phantasmalnext
as in imaginary
not real and existing only in the imagination phantasmal fears that have prevented her from living a normal life

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 phantasmal The Mellotron occupies a phantasmal space in our pop culture consciousness. — Sam Goldner, Pitchfork, 19 July 2026 Beyond that, all apparent structures are merely phantasmal. — Big Think, 27 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phantasmal
  1. imaginary
  2. fictional
  3. mythical
  4. fictitious
  5. imaginal
  6. imagined
Adjective
  • Near the end of the story, Gardner pledges to kill his imaginary son to spare him war’s toll, but backs out upon his wish to be transformed into a noble soldier.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 10 Aug. 2026
  • The Argentinian prairie is adorned with imaginary houses, castles and theatres as the young girls construct spontaneous, invisible cities, stories and games in which Koberidze’s likewise unseen characters could live.
    — Manahil Tahira, Variety, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of imaginary
Adjective
  • Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, and Nick Jonas will all reprise their roles as the fictional Gray brothers in the band Connect 3, with comedian Sherry Cola also joining the cast.
    — Madison E. Goldberg, PEOPLE, 5 Aug. 2026
  • Bud Billiken, the page’s fictional editor/mascot described as the guardian and protector of children, was invented by Abbott and the Defender’s executive editor Lucius Harper.
    — Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of fictional
Adjective
  • Knott’s has transformed the 1978 Montezooma’s Revenge into a multi-launch coaster with an Aztec treasure hunter theme and a train designed to look like a mythical stone creature.
    — Brady MacDonald, Oc Register, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Yet when the latter is replaced by the abbreviation algol (Algorithmic Language), a whole other order of reference comes into view, involving celestial movements and mythic monstrosities.
    — Jan Tumlir, Artforum, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of mythical
Adjective
  • Schools received an email from a fictitious two-parent household with both a mother and father interested in enrolling a child.
    — Kristy Buzard, The Conversation, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Twenty years later, Hughes would shoot some of his films at his alma mater, which would serve as the fictitious Shermer High School in the hits The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
    — Al Shipley, SPIN, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of fictitious
Adjective
  • Peter [Merry] likes to use is that, when a caterpillar is becoming a butterfly, new ‘imaginal cells’ emerge.
    — Big Think, Big Think, 7 Aug. 2025
  • With one technique, for example—called imaginal exposure—you might be asked to visualize the process of going to the airport, boarding the plane, and experiencing a bad bout of turbulence.
    — Angela Haupt, TIME, 10 May 2024
Definition of imaginal
Adjective
  • Over the course of 13 test flights, SpaceX has attempted to fly Starship along roughly the same suborbital path, while the company has tweaked, re-imagined and designed around various issues that have emerged throughout the flight campaign.
    — Jackie Wattles, CNN Money, 3 Aug. 2026
  • Not always very precisely balanced between horror, homage and mystery, this intriguing if unevenly realized construct will nonetheless lure genre fans and nostalgists alike with its imagined back chapter of golden-age Hollywood.
    — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 31 July 2026
Definition of imagined

Browse Nearby Words

phantasmagoric
phantasmal
phantasmic
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Phantasmal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phantasmal. Accessed 11 Aug. 2026.

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