variants
also fantasms
1
as in illusions
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 apparitions
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phantasms
Noun
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Only hours into the conflict, an errant strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in southern Iran served as a gut-wrenching reminder of the cost of such illusions, and a testament to the grim truth that those who pay most dearly for the fog of war are almost always the innocent.—
Karim Sadjadpour,
The Atlantic,
4 Mar. 2026 -
Miuccia Prada, herself a billionaire, has no illusions that the runway is a space for political grandstanding.—
Rachel Tashjian,
CNN Money,
3 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
As the 14-year-old child of a poor family in 1858, Saint Bernadette experienced numerous apparitions of a young woman in a cave or grotto, seemingly the Virgin Mary, asking for a chapel to be built on the site.—
Chris Jones,
Chicago Tribune,
21 Feb. 2026
-
The small museum, which opened last year, covers the creatures, apparitions and mysteries eluding prosaic explanation.—
Adam Kuehl,
New York Times,
19 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
That was when the foundation’s internal troubles began, with competing visions for the future of the Everglades.—
Michael Adno,
Rolling Stone,
3 Mar. 2026
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While their visions for how to best resist ICE differ, the leading candidates have said the agency can’t continue in its current form.—
Olivia Olander,
Chicago Tribune,
3 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The spirits are all around here.—
Deborah Treisman,
New Yorker,
8 Mar. 2026
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The day event features a pop-up photo studio with celebrity photographer David Christopher Lee, along with brands across beauty, wellness, home and spirits — and puppies also available for adoption.—
Kirsten Chuba,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Both have the talent to back up their dreams.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Mar. 2026
-
Strong foundations can carry big dreams without unnecessary strain.—
Tarot.com,
The Orlando Sentinel,
9 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The Paramount+ series, which follows a group of ghosts stuck in purgatory inside their high school, uses its premise — characters tethered to different decades — as both a narrative engine and a musical one.—
Kennedy French,
Variety,
5 Mar. 2026
-
This may explain something about ghosts.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Mar. 2026
Noun
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His synth work conjures the romantic fantasies of high-rises and all-white lounges that French musicians Jean-Luc Ponty and Wally Badarou once evoked in their ’80s albums.—
Kiana Mickles,
Pitchfork,
2 Mar. 2026
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Or perhaps you will be filled with private thoughts, fantasies and crushes about someone.—
Georgia Nicols,
Denver Post,
28 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
They were hidden in DART’s original photos, but UMD researchers Tony Farnham and Juan Rizos developed techniques to remove shadows and lighting effects.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
8 Mar. 2026
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Titled ClairObscur, it was dedicated to illuminating forms of character through the exploration of shadows, in part inspired by the dramatic tenebrism of Caravaggio.—
Luke Leitch,
Vogue,
7 Mar. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Phantasms.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phantasms. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.
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