Definition of PHANTOM

phantom

Plural: phantoms

Noun

  • Something existing only in appearance; a ghost or illusion.
  • a ghostly appearing figure
  • something existing in perception only
  • A ghost or apparition.
  • Something apparently seen, heard, or sensed, but having no physical reality; an image that appears only in the mind; an illusion or delusion.
  • A placeholder for a pair of players when there are an odd number of pairs playing.
  • A test object that reproduces the characteristics of human tissue.
  • Short for phantom power

Adjective Satellite

  • something apparently sensed but having no physical reality
    • "seemed to hear faint phantom bells"
    • "the amputee's illusion of a phantom limb"

Adj

  • Illusive.
  • Fictitious or nonexistent.

Examples

  • a phantom limb
  • He saw a PHANTOM bingo on the board, but the letters just weren’t there.

Origin / 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, “I make visible”). Doublet of phantasm.

Scrabble Score: 14

phantom: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
phantom: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
phantom: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 16

phantom: valid Words With Friends Word