phan´tom|like´

phan|tom «FAN tuhm», noun, adjective.

–n.

1. an image of the mind that seems to be real: »

the phantoms of a dream. His fevered brain filled the room with phantoms from the past. She was a phantom of delight When first she gleamed upon my sight (Wordsworth).

2. a thought or apprehension of anything that haunts the imagination: »

The phantom of starvation drove him to theft.

3. a vague, dim, or shadowy appearance; ghost: »

The forms Of which these are the phantoms (Shelley).

4. SYNONYM(S): apparition, specter.

5. Figurative. a mere show; appearance with no substance: »

a phantom of a government, the phantom of a once flourishing town.

6. Obsolete. a) unreality; deception. b) an instance of this; a delusion or deception.

–adj.

like a ghost; unreal; merely apparent: »

a phantom ship; Figurative. phantom prosperity.

╂[< Old French fantosme < Vulgar Latin phantama, variant of Latin phantasma. See etym. of doublets phantasm (Cf. ↑phantasm), phantasma. (Cf. ↑phantasma)]

–phan´tom|like´, adjective.