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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of phantom
Lora Kolodny,jennifer Elias,annie Palmer, CNBC, 16 Dec. 2025
The concept of vampire energy, also known as phantom load, is often discussed in relation to electronic devices, but merely hearing the term doesn't provide a suitable explanation for what is actually happening.
—Timothy Dale, Better Homes & Gardens, 9 Dec. 2025
Laura Kiniry, Popular Science, 22 Oct. 2025
When the surplus was exposed as a phantom, the state was stuck with a chronic income/outgo gap that persists.
—Dan Walters, Mercury News, 18 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for phantom
Adjective
The company issued a software recall in March for some of its test fleet to resolve a phantom braking issue that prompted a NHTSA investigation.
—Noun
Veneziale’s dad is often responsible for picking up items further afield, such as an animated phantom that had been listed on Facebook Marketplace.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for phantom
Adjective
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As players shoot around, Jake cradles a ball before blowing past an imaginary defender to hammer home a dunk.—
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At the opening, Natalie, bored and filled with loathing for her parents, flees her family home by retreating into imaginary worlds of vivid, eroticized violence.—
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.—
Adjective
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Anyone who’s survived to 2026 knows the upper class’ fictitious fantasies still carry real, wretched consequences for the rest of us, but Season 4 plays out those ongoing scenarios to the nth degree, while condensing them into an appreciable narrative arc.—
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The series, which premiered on Netflix at the end of 2024, tells the story of the Buendía family over multiple generations and is set in the fictitious town of Macondo, Colombia, which the family founded.—
Noun
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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.—
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One of the most stunning exhibitions of the year put the spotlight on Our Lady of Guadalupe, which has a long history dating back to 1531, tied to four apparitions of the Virgin Mary to a peasant in Mexico.—
Adjective
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As the voice of Rumi, Ejae performed the lead vocals of all the songs for HUNTR/X, the movie's fictional k-pop girl group that moonlights as demon hunters who protect the world from soul-sucking monsters.—
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In the fictional story of the Shakespeare family, their family tragedy leads Shakespeare to write Hamlet.—
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.—
Adjective
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The repetition of that mythic version has buttressed the belief that the fight for American independence was an event somehow separate from world history.—
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That was a really great mythic take.—
Adjective
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Taken together, the books on this list show narrators real and imagined grappling with some of life’s greatest challenges, and nevertheless surviving—as timely and valuable a message as readers can ask for.—
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Prompted by Einstein, the noncompliant witnesses in the 1950s reshaped the public discussion, refocusing the conversation on the importance of freedom of expression rather than the fears of imagined communist infiltration.—
Cite this Entry
“Phantom.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phantom. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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