phantom
adjEtymology 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.
1
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. […]”1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:
2
Fictitious or nonexistent.
- a phantom limb
- Derived terms
25 terms
phantom abandoned call, phantom bone disease, phantom call, phantom circuit, phantom crane fly, phantom debt, phantom energy, phantom eye syndrome, phantom goal, phantom island, phantom jam, phantom limb, phantom midge, phantomness, phantom pain, phantom power, phantom pregnancy, phantom punch, phantom reference, phantom settlement, phantom shiner, phantom stock, phantom tumour, phantom type, phantom withdrawal