Phantasmal

//fænˈtæzml̩// adj

adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or pertaining to, or having the characteristics of, a phantasm (“something seen but having no physical reality”); imaginary, unreal.

    "The matter of which dreams are made / Not more endowed with actual life / Than this phantasmal portraiture / Of wandering human thought."

  2. 2
    Of or pertaining to, or having the characteristics of, a phantasm (“something seen but having no physical reality”); imaginary, unreal.; Of or pertaining to, or having the characteristics of, a phantom (“apparition or ghost”); ghostly, spectral.
  3. 3
    Of or pertaining to, or having the characteristics of, a phantasm (“something seen but having no physical reality”); imaginary, unreal.; Of or pertaining to, or having the characteristics of, a phantasm (“perception or vision of a living or dead person who is not physically present, often through telepathy”).
Adjective
  1. 1
    resembling or characteristic of a phantom wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
apparitionalaerialair builtair-builtairyall in the mind

Example

More examples

"The matter of which dreams are made / Not more endowed with actual life / Than this phantasmal portraiture / Of wandering human thought."

Etymology

From phantasm or phantasma (“phantasm”) + -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.