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1. A ghostly appearing figure
   "we were unprepared for the phantom that confronted us"
   - apparition, phantasm, phantasma, fantasm, specter [US], spectre [Brit, Cdn]
    
2. Something existing in perception only
   "a ghostly phantom at midnight"
   - apparition, phantasm, phantasma, fantasm, shadow

1. Something apparently sensed but having no physical reality
   "seemed to hear faint phantom bells"; "the amputee's illusion of a phantom limb"

Derived forms: phantoms

See also: unreal

Type of: disembodied spirit, illusion, semblance, spirit

Encyclopedia: Phantom