phantasmaladj.
/fanˈtazml/, U.S. /fænˈtæzməl/ 1. Of the nature of a phantasm; spectral, ghostly; having no material existence, unreal, imaginary.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > unsubstantiality or abstractness > [adjective] > unsubstantial or merely apparent
shadowy1374
phantom?c1450
shadowish1561
dreamish1563
fleshlessa1592
dreamya1594
shadowed1597
unreal1605
phantasmatic1607
dreamlike1615
umbratilous1637
phantasmatical1642
umbratile1647
moonshine1668
phantomical1687
visionary1697
faerie1767
filmlike1804
phantasmal1805
spectral1816
moonshiny1821
phantomatica1834
parheliacal1852
phantomic1878
translunar1927
celluloid1928
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > mental image, idea, or fancy > a vision > [adjective]
visional1647
visionary1648
phantasmical1678
phantasmal1805
visioned1817
phantasmic1825
1805 J. Bristed Soc. of Friends iv. 357 Surely those images which pass through a gloomy and darkened medium, cannot be expected to glow with the vivid hue, and the ever-deepening dye of..phantasmal forms of glory.
1813 P. B. Shelley Queen Mab vi. 82 All that chequers the phantasmal scene That floats before our eyes in wavering light.
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biogr. Lit. (1882) vii. 56 The phantasmal chaos of association.
1880 J. H. Shorthouse John Inglesant (1882) II. xvi. 320 With such phantasmal imaginations he filled Inglesant's ears.
1916 J. Joyce Portrait of Artist ii. 93 He was happy only when he was far from them.., alone or in the company of phantasmal comrades.
1953 Ess. in Crit. 3 89 A narcissist indulgence in a ‘phantasmal world’ of self-reflection.
2001 GQ Now 199/3 The public façade of Gorillaz consists of four phantasmal cartoon members: Murdoc, 2D, Russel and Noodle.
2. Parapsychology. Of the nature of or relating to a phantasm (phantasm n. 2b); telepathic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > the paranormal > [adjective] > vision of person
phantasmalian1841
phantasmal1844
1844 Littell's Living Age 26 Oct. 745 (title) The phantasmal reproof.
1886 E. Gurney et al. Phantasms of Living I. Introd. 65 Between the moment of death and the phantasmal announcement thereof to a distant friend.
1903 Mind 12 523 The only ground for bringing the ‘subliminal self’ into the play is the presumption that the agency projecting the phantasmal picture of the body is the mind of the person whose body is pictured.
1982 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 21 Feb. vii. 1/2 Crying out to her mother's ghost..she returns to her own family more or less convinced that these phantasmal influences from the past have been laid to rest.
2004 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 6 Jan. 19 In the Sydney metropolitan area there are at least five ghostly tours, conducted by candlelight, by lantern, by torch, even by converted hearse. There are also phantasmal trips around Picton and Campbelltown.
Derivatives
phantasˈmality n. the quality or condition of being phantasmal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > unsubstantiality or abstractness > [noun] > unsubstantiality or lack of substance > something lacking substance > mere appearance or image of something > quality of being merely apparent
phantasmality1875
1875 G. H. Lewes Probl. Life & Mind II. ii. ii. §38. 45 Between the reality of our waking sensations, and the phantasmality of our dream perceptions..the contrast is marked.
1903 Critic (N.Y.) Oct. 354/1 His is the spirit that cries for delivery from the tyranny of his senses, the phantasmality of the world.
1996 Film Comment (Nexis) May 42 So subtly ghost-like that the other characters never notice her, her phantasmality is implicit in her timeless beauty, her sadness, her ambiguous relationship to materiality.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1805