as in imaginary
not real and existing only in the imagination
phantasmal fears that have prevented her from living a normal life
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for phantasmal
Adjective
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In an age of visual and underground detection, why am I delayed at a traffic signal waiting for an imaginary vehicle to enter the intersection?
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And what’s a novelist but a fence, furnishing imaginary scenes with choice pieces of reality while obscuring their provenance?
Adjective
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While the heroine in this novel is fictional, readers will be drawn to this mystery set during WWII about codebreaking, and a Nazi threat on American soil.
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Cue a whole host of dodgy deals and shady string-pulling, not to mention an extramarital affair, as the entirely fictional — but no doubt true to life — character abandons any sense of morality.
Adjective
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Not to be outdone, Nintendo released a console of their own, the GameCube, which was a little underappreciated in its heyday, but has reached almost mythical status with the passage of time.
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Since her tragic death at age 36 in 1997, the almost mythical lure of her jewels has only grown.
Adjective
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The book traces the fictitious Yeoman family’s evolution over generations from self-sufficient homesteaders to participants in global markets.
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Hosting its usual presentation at its headquarters, located a stone’s throw from San Babila square, the brand installed video walls that broadcast a fictitious runway show created with the help of AI.
Adjective
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Peter [Merry] likes to use is that, when a caterpillar is becoming a butterfly, new ‘imaginal cells’ emerge.
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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.
Adjective
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The humanities will survive not by defending an imagined past of disinterested purity, but by demonstrating their necessity in a fractured republic.
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That is, real, not merely illusory, measures, so that the allure to breach peace for imagined gains is overshadowed.
Cite this Entry
“Phantasmal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phantasmal. Accessed 30 Jun. 2026.
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