phantom

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

phantom^¹

/ˈfæntəm/

Rhymes with -æntəm

Where it comes from

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.

noun phantoms · fantom

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

Similar: ghost

adjective fantom

not comparable Illusive. […] (it was the town's humour to be always gassing of phantom investors who were likely to come any moment and pay a thousand prices for everything) — “[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. […]”
not comparable Fictitious or nonexistent. a phantom limb

Phantom^²

noun Phantoms

Nickname of the F-4B jet fighter flown by U.S. marines in Vietnam.
A Rolls-Royce Phantom automobile. Paul pulled out the Phantom; niggas can't stand it but them hoes gonna come out.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: specter, spectre, apparition, shadow, unreal, spook, ghost, spirit, fantasy, imaginary, bogey, notional, figment, fictional, fictive, fictitious

noun

Similar: ghost

Translations

Every language

noun something having no physical reality

Español	fantasma
한국어	환영 hwanyeong
日本語	幻 maboroshi, 幻影 gen'ei
中文	幻影 huànyǐng
हिन्दी	प्रेत pret
Português	fantasma
Français	fantôme
Deutsch	Phantom
Italiano	fantasma, spettro
Ελληνικά	Φαντομάς Fantomás
Română	fantomă
Русский	при́зрак prízrak, тень tenʹ, фанто́м fantóm, привиде́ние prividénije
العربية	سَرَاب sarāb, شَبَح šabaḥ, شَبْح šabḥ

noun test object

Português	fantoma

adj unreal or fictitious

Italiano	immaginario, immaginaria, irreale
Русский	нереальный nerealʹnyj, иллюзорный illjuzornyj, фантомный fantomnyj

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"phantom." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/phantom. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

phantom. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/phantom

Chicago

"phantom." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/phantom.

BibTeX

@misc{phantom_2026,
  title = {phantom},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/phantom},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}