From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishphantomphan‧tom1 /ˈfæntəm/ noun [countable] literary 1 GHOSTthe image of a dead person or strange thing that someone thinks they see SYN ghost2 IMAGINEsomething that exists only in your imagination
Examples from the Corpus
phantom• She was simply swallowed up like a phantom.• Suddenly a phantom appeared out of the mist, terrifying the hikers.• Tantalizing, ill-defined phantoms moved across its surface and in its depths.• Not even the grimmest phantoms of pagan imagination are wantonly malignant.• And one Phantom, instead of many phantoms.phantomphantom2 adjective [only before noun] 1 literary seeming to appear to someone a phantom ship2 not real, but seeming real to the person affected a phantom pregnancyphantom limb (=an arm or leg that someone feels they still have after it has been cut off)phantom fat (=fat that someone believes they still have after they have lost weight)3 made to seem real in order to deceive people Phantom contracts were used to make the company seem more successful than it was.4 used humorously to describe an unknown person that you blame for something annoying The phantom pen stealer strikes again!Examples from the Corpus
phantom• But for her the phantom baby that came to life dancing in her fantasy was a baffling problem.• Climbers Doug Scott and Nick Estcourt both said they saw or sensed phantom climbers.• phantom limb pain in amputees• Who would be her phantom lover?• Together with teacher absence and phantom payrolls, this leaks educational resources away from their intended use.• He planned to fix the election using phantom votes.Origin phantom1 (1200-1300) Old French fantosme, from Latin phantasma; → PHANTASM 