noun
or fan·tasm ˈfan.ˌtazəm
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English fantasme, from Old French, from Latin phantasma, from Greek, from phantazein to present to the mind — more at fancy
1. : a product of phantasy: as
a. : delusive appearance : illusion , deception
a fleeting phantasm , born and gone, intangible as a flash of lightning — Heinrich Zimmer
b. : ghost , specter , spirit
phantasms of the dark
c. : a figment of the imagination, fancy, or disordered mind : an imaginative conception : fantasy , dream , delusion
twilight phantasms, and deep noonday thought — P.B.Shelley
husband who is “an utter coward” about the phantasms of his own imagination — Scott Fitzgerald
now first the cloud of phantasms cleared away: he beheld his real life — George Meredith
2. : a mental image or representation of a real object : a sensuous idea or impression — compare species 2b
all of the sensible qualities are but phantasms of the observer, not properties of the object — Douglas Bush
3.
a. obsolete : one that counterfeits the real or true
b. : a deceptive or illusory appearance of a thing : shadow , adumbration
follow phantasms of truth
grasping at every phantasm of hope
4. : an apparition of a living or dead person in a place where his body is known not to be
Synonyms: see fancy