phantomnoun [ C ]
uk/ˈfæn.təm/us/ˈfæn.t̬əm/a spirit of a dead person believed by some to visit the living as a pale, almost transparent form of a person, animal, or other object
Synonym
ghost
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Souls, spirits & ghosts
- apparition
- astral plane
- aura
- chi
- familiar
- ghost
- ghostly
- haunt
- necromancy
- Ouija board
- poltergeist
- possessed
- reincarnation
- spectral
- spectre
- spirit
- spiritualism
- spook
- zombie
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phantomadjective [ before noun ]
uk/ˈfæn.təm/us/ˈfæn.t̬əm/like a ghost:
A phantom coach is said to pass through the grounds of this house when there's a full moon.
humorous The phantom wine-drinker has been around (= an unknown person has been drinking the wine)!
used to describe something that you imagine exists or that appears to exist, although in fact it does not:
Although she had to have her leg amputated, she still feels as though she's got a phantom limb.
They discovered it was a phantom organization set up for the processing of drug profits.
UK Although she grew bigger, she later discovered it was a phantom (US false) pregnancy.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Unreal things and unreality
- cloud cuckoo land
- delusion
- delusional
- dummy
- escapism
- false hopes
- falsity
- fantasy
- fictionalize
- figment
- idealist
- illusion
- la-la land
- make-believe
- never-never land
- pie
- pie in the sky idiom
- pious
- unreal
- untruth
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