variants
also fantasm
1
as in illusion
a conception or image created by the imagination and having no objective reality
frightened by the phantasms of his own making
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in apparition
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
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Recent Examples of phantasm
Likewise, Poe’s devilish ambiguity, his production of phantasms both real and imagined, undergirds James’s own ventures into the genre.
—
Phillip MacIak, The New Republic, 11 Oct. 2023
Those are all real things, not the phantasms of a junk-food loving fourth-grader’s fever dreams.
—Emily Heil, Washington Post, 22 Aug. 2023
And sometimes the phantasms of artificial intelligence can prompt, in the prompter, genuine emotion.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2023
But eventually, the duo turned the phantasm into solid logic.
—Quanta Magazine, 15 July 2021
See All Example Sentences for phantasm
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phantasm
Noun
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Most of them are unemployed and produce nothing but illusions.—
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Then, style the cut with a deep side part to create the illusion of an asymmetrical blunt cut.—
Noun
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The image combines each planet's nightly positions during separate 2025 apparitions, assembled by astrophotographer Petr Horálek, a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador.—
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Sam slips back into her addiction and as her alcoholism worsens, so do the visions and apparitions that seem to be haunting the forest.—
Noun
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Sadly, his college ball dreams didn’t come to fruition after the coach who called him up retired.—
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Over the past seven years, Blake Lively brought her dream hair care line to life by redefining the beauty industry with a blend of passion, precision and purpose.—
Noun
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For the better part of eight years after Super Bowl 50, the Broncos were an organization with delusions of adequacy, fielding mediocre teams with major problems with ownership drama, mismanaged rosters, ghost drafts and an endless carousel of underwhelming quarterbacks.—
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Tony Sparano, whom Ross inherited, Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Brian Flores and Mike McDaniel are the ghosts who haunt this franchise.—
Noun
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More elite than university even, the boarding school occupies a fantasy space in the writer’s imagination, making novels about them a tantalizing glimpse into another world.—
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In his director’s statement, Edwin describes the film as an attempt to merge horror with dark comedy and surreal fantasy while confronting labor exploitation and dehumanizing working conditions.—
Noun
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Despite its name, the bar operates as a globally minded cocktail destination with equal attention paid to other spirits, along with small bites and an impressive cigar selection.—
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What’s unique about Tasovská’s approach is that the entire film is composed of Jarcovjáková’s photographs, infusing her artistic spirit into every frame.—
Noun
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Bob Weir, the singer, songwriter, guitarist, and co-founder of the Grateful Dead, whose songs about sunshine daydreams and truckin’ helped turn the jam band into a 60-year musical empire, has died at age 78.—
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Season 5, after all, is framed by Mike and Eleven’s daydream of a conversation in the first episode.—
Noun
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Investigators said the resident was experiencing excruciating pain from a hernia, phantom leg syndrome and nerve damage from diabetes.—
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Gives himself entirely to the race, shoots like a phantom up through the opening and then stands panting in the garret, completely motionless, while his eyes become accustomed to the change of light.—
Cite this Entry
“Phantasm.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phantasm. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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