phantom

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a ghostly appearing figure
  2. noun something existing in perception only
  3. adjective something apparently sensed but having no physical reality

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English fantome, fanteme, from Old French fantosme, fantasme, from Latin phantasma (“an apparition, specter; (in Late Latin also) appearance, image”), from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma, “phantasm, an appearance, image, apparition, specter”), from φαντάζω (phantázō, “to make visible”). Doublet of phantasm.

In classic literature

Synonyms

apparition, phantasm, phantasma, fantasm, specter, spectre

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