phantasmic

adjective

Definition of phantasmicnext
as in imaginary
not real and existing only in the imagination had spent a restless night during which he was visited by a series of phantasmic figures

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 phantasmic Standing to the right, the viewer perceives this phantasmic figure underneath their reflection, a disturbing Other, a double. — James Meyer, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phantasmic
  1. imaginary
  2. mythical
  3. fictional
  4. fictitious
  5. imaginal
  6. imagined
Adjective
  • Out on a wooden platform extending over San Diego’s Mission Bay, young women sway from side to side, riding an imaginary wave to the beats.
    — Kailyn Brown, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Just before the pandemic, Manhattan’s MCC Theater staged a show called All the Natalie Portmans, about a gay Black teenage cinephile who envisions the actor as a kind of manic pixie imaginary friend.
    — Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of imaginary
Adjective
  • Consider the mythic fates of Icarus, Prometheus, Hercules—all were punished rather severely for trying to expand knowledge, to make progress.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 20 Aug. 2026
  • This is the story of a group of parents who are rushing to get a Trojan mascot across the Canadian-American border by the end of the week to avoid tariffs, not a mythical monster.
    — Conor Wight, CBS News, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of mythical
Adjective
  • The first season was filmed in Wales and set in the fictional North Wales village of Morfa Halen.
    — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 26 Aug. 2026
  • This is where the creation of the aforementioned fictional Barrow’s Green came about, which eventually came to life in the form of The Six Bells Inn.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of fictional
Adjective
  • The undercover analyst noted in a message that his fictitious 4-year-old brother would be home the next day, when the Perez meeting was expected.
    — Emerson Clarridge, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 18 Aug. 2026
  • Final testing relied on fictitious data instead of the real records of millions of residents.
    — Komal Goyal, Forbes.com, 12 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
  • An imagined 2014 case involving State Farm was cited to convince a judge that the company was, ultimately, not responsible for covering all the damage to the plaintiff’s home.
    — Rebecca Ellis, Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2026
  • Anemoia is essentially an imagined memory, a longing built from movies, photographs, and secondhand stories rather than lived experience.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of imagined

Browse Nearby Words

phantasmal
phantasmic
phantasms
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Phantasmic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phantasmic. Accessed 29 Aug. 2026.

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