I. phan ‧ tom 1 /ˈfæntəm/ BrE AmE noun [countable] literary
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: fantosme , from Latin phantasma ; ⇨ ↑ phantasm ]
1 . the image of a dead person or strange thing that someone thinks they see SYN ghost
2 . something that exists only in your imagination
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THESAURUS
▪ ghost the spirit of a dead person that some people think they can feel or see in a place:
His ghost is believed to haunt the house.
▪ spirit a creature without a physical body, such as an angel or ghost:
evil spirits
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the spirit world
▪ apparition an image of a dead person that someone sees suddenly for a short time:
He claimed to have seen an apparition in the church.
▪ poltergeist a ghost that people cannot see, which throws things or moves things around:
The house was haunted by a poltergeist that makes things move around all by themselves, sometimes quite big things like beds or wardrobes.
▪ spook informal a ghost:
I’m not scared of spooks.
▪ phantom literary a frightening and unclear image of a dead person:
They had seen phantoms gliding on the surface of the water.
▪ spectre British English , specter American English literary a ghost, especially a frightening one:
She had looked like a spectre.
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The following night, the spectre appeared again.
II. phantom 2 BrE AmE adjective [only before noun]
1 . literary seeming to appear to someone:
a phantom ship
2 . not real, but seeming real to the person affected:
a phantom pregnancy
3 . made to seem real in order to deceive people:
Phantom contracts were used to make the company seem more successful than it was.
4 . used humorously to describe an unknown person that you blame for something annoying:
The phantom pen stealer strikes again!