noun
phantasm
FAN-taz-um/ˈfæntæzəm/
An image that seems present but is not real.
In the darkness, she mistakes a phantasm for a visitor.
Etymology
Greek phantasma meant an image or apparition: something with the appearance rather than the substance of reality. That contrast underlies a phantasm as an illusory or mind-produced image.
In context
in Plato's philosophy the Phantasm was a departure from reality it was an illusion
More examples
- The fever fills his room with frightening phantasms.
- He reaches for the phantasm, but his hand touches nothing.
- The face in the window is only a phantasm.
Forms
phantasm · phantasms
phantasmal adjective — Seeming real but having no physical existence.
Similar words
- apparition
- Usually suggests a ghostly figure rather than any unreal image.
- hallucination
- An unreal sensory experience, not necessarily a visible image.
- illusion
- A misleading appearance that may involve something actually present.