Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

phantom

Pronunciation: /ˈfantəm/

Translate phantom | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of phantom

noun

  • a ghost:a phantom who haunts lonely roads [as modifier]:a phantom ship
  • a figment of the imagination:he tried to clear the phantoms from his head and grasp reality
  • [as modifier] not real; illusory:a phantom conspiracy the women suffered from phantom pain that no physician could ever find
  • [as modifier] denoting a financial arrangement or transaction which has been invented for fraudulent purposes:he diverted an estimated £1,500,000 into ‘phantom’ bank accounts

Origin:

Middle English (also in the sense 'illusion, delusion'): from Old French fantosme, based on Greek phantasma (see phantasm)

phantom in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of phantom in the US English dictionary