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phantasma

phantasma

1 9.9
A ghost-like figure that seems real but is not
  • noun
  • /fænˈtæzmə/
  • Literature
translation icon : fantasma
  • The film's eerie atmosphere created an unsettling phantasma that left the audience questioning what was real.

Examples

  • Phantasia refers to a simple memory image generated by the mind's internal vision, whereas phantasma designates the product of the mind's activity in arranging and rearranging into a coherent whole the disparate images stored in memory.

    Academic text (2007)
  • The multiple portraits of Christ produced in time are simply a matter of human conjecture; the depiction of the incarnate face is no more than a phantasma.

    Academic text (2007)
  • A new god, then, is either one or the other of two things: a stone or a phantasma.

    Academic text (2007)
  • The old mansion was said to be haunted by a phantasma that appeared to visitors late at night.

  • At last, she realized that her fears were just a phantasma of her imagination, not real threats.

Synonyms

hallucination
vsphantasma
140 7.5

A false experience in which you see or hear something not there

is more about an imagined ghostly figure than a clinical perceptual error
phantom
vsphantasma
81 6.7

A ghost or spirit that people think they see

is more about an imagined, illusory figure than an actual spirit
specter
vsphantasma
  • US
56 8.6

A ghost that people say appears and frightens them at night

is similar but is not limited to terrifying or scary appearances
illusion
vsphantasma
52 4.2

A magic trick that makes something look impossible

is more about a ghostly or imagined figure than a deliberate trick
apparition
vsphantasma
  • Literature
19 8.9

A ghost that people see suddenly

is broader, including both sudden appearances and imagined illusory figures
phantasm
vsphantasma
  • Literature
4 9.9

A thing that seems real but is only in the mind, like a ghost

is the imagined, unreal form rather than a concrete presence
visual hallucination
vsphantasma
  • Specialized
1 7.9

Seeing things that are not really there because the brain sends wrong signals

is broader, covering ghostly or imagined figures beyond clinical visual errors
disembodied spirit
vsphantasma
  • Literature
1 9.5

A spirit without a body that appears to people or stays near places

is less committed to belief, often describing imagined or illusory figures
fantasm
vsphantasma
  • Archaic
9.9

A ghost that appears to people

is the same ghostly idea but used more generally or loosely
pseudohallucination
vsphantasma
  • Specialized
9.9

A vivid image or sound that feels real but you know is not real

is more openly imagined or illusory rather than internally recognized perception

Antonyms

1.4

The way things really are, not how we imagine or wish

335 2.8

A physical material that objects are made of

How Real

ghost
929 3.0
apparition
  • Literature
19 8.9
phantasma
  • Literature
1 9.9
illusion
319 4.6
figment
33 6.4

Surface Forms

phantasma singular
phantasmas plural

Etymology

Phantasma comes from an old Greek word that means 'image' or 'appearance', and you can see the same root in the English words phantom and fantasy; so a phantasma is a ghostly image or something that feels unreal.