phantom

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See also: Phantom

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English fantome, fanteme, from Old French fantosme, fantasme, from Latin phantasma (an apparition, specter; (in Late Latin also) appearance, image), from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma, phantasm, an appearance, image, apparition, specter), from φαντάζω (phantázō, I make visible). Doublet of phantasm.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈfæntəm/
    • (file)
  • Rhymes: -æntəm

Noun[edit]

phantom (plural phantoms)

Lon Chaney as the Phantom of the Opera
  1. A ghost or apparition.
  2. Something apparently seen, heard, or sensed, but having no physical reality; an image that appears only in the mind; an illusion or delusion.
  3. (bridge) A placeholder for a pair of players when there are an odd number of pairs playing.
  4. (medical imaging) A test object. A test phantom is an object that reproduces the characteristics of human tissue.

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Adjective[edit]

phantom (not comparable)

  1. Illusive.
    • 1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:
      […] (it was the town's humour to be always gassing of phantom investors who were likely to come any moment and pay a thousand prices for everything) — “[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. […]”
  2. Fictitious or nonexistent.
    a phantom limb

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