Synonyms of phantom

phantom 1 of 2

adjective

as in imaginary

not real and existing only in the imagination

the company claimed that the only hazards involving its product were the phantom dangers created by consumer groups

Synonyms & Similar Words

• imaginary
• fictitious
• fictional
• mythical
• fantasied
• imagined
• imaginal
• phantasmal
• ideal
• unreal
• invented
• chimerical
• make-believe
• phantasmic
• notional
• fanciful
• legendary
• theoretical
• pretend
• fantastic
• made-up
• visionary
• hypothetical
• fabled
• fabulous
• romantic
• unlikely
• abstract
• illusory
• unbelievable
• fictive
• nonexistent
• deceptive
• hallucinatory
• unconvincing
• visualized
• phantasmagoric
• delusive
• envisioned
• conceived
• pictured
• delusional
• fabricated
• envisaged
• feigned
• concocted
• daydreamlike
• inexistent

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• real
• actual
• existing
• true
• existent
• genuine
• authentic
• physical
• factual
• realistic
• verifiable
• substantial
• solid
• convincing
• corporeal
• believable
• material
• tangible
• verified
• palpable

phantom

2 of 2

noun

ˈfan-təm 

as in ghost

the soul of a dead person thought of especially as appearing to living people

Halloween is supposed to be a time when phantoms return to walk among us

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ghost
• apparition
• spirit
• wraith
• specter
• haunt
• phantasm
• poltergeist
• vampire
• shadow
• materialization
• demon
• spook
• vision
• sprite
• zombie
• familiar spirit
• visitant
• angel
• bogey
• hant
• ghoul
• shade
• double
• familiar
• genie
• doppelgänger
• daimon
• fetch
• incubus
• succubus
• jinni
• genius
• manes
• devil
• shaitan
• imp
• lemures
• lamia
• fiend
• cacodemon

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of phantom

Adjective

Linebacker Drue Tranquill broke up a fade attempt to running back Kenneth Walker, leading to Mahomes amusingly calling for a flag from phantom officials. — Kansas City Star, 29 July 2026

The idea is to take these phantom tissues and place them close to powerful EM sources, transmitters, and other systems to study what happens. — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 25 July 2026

Noun

On the 1994 comeback album Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins, Sparks imagined Liberace, who died in 1987, making his own comeback in the afterlife, adored again as a phantom haunting the Earth. — Al Shipley, SPIN, 31 July 2026

Left behind are her great-grandmother’s haunting journals detailing the story of her own phantom, and subsequently, her brutal murder. — Jennifer Maas, Variety, 25 July 2026