phantasm

English

Alternative forms

• fantasm

Etymology

From Old French fantasme, from Latin phantasma (“an apparition, specter; Late Latin also appearance, image”), from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phantasma, “phantasm”), from φαντάζω (phantazō, “I make visible”).

Noun

phantasm (plural phantasms)

1. something seen but having no physical reality; a phantom or apparition.
   • 1900, Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, Avon Books, (translated by James Strachey) pg. 74:

     He declares that there seems to be no justification for regarding the phantasms of dreams as pure hallucinations; most dream-images are probably in fact illusions, since they arise from faint sense-impressions, which never cease during sleep.

Related terms

• fancy
• fantasize
• fantastic
• fantasy
• phantom

External links

• phantasm in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• phantasm in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• phantasm at OneLook Dictionary Search