phantom

Pluralphantoms

1. 1
   ghostnouncountable or uncountable

   A ghost, or a similar apparition that seems to appear before someone.

   Visitors swear they have seen a phantom drifting along the castle walls at midnight.

   The old opera house is said to be haunted by the phantoms of actors who died on its stage.

   Similarghost, apparition, specter, spirit, wraith

   Note

   At root it means an appearance, something made visible: the word goes back through Old French fantosme and Latin phantasma to a Greek verb meaning "I make visible". Middle English wrote it fantome; the ph- was restored later, after the Latin and Greek. That root is why the word slides so easily from a ghost on the stairs to an image only in the mind. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • The underlying noun meant an appearance or image. en.wiktionary.org
   • The word descends through Old French fantosme and Latin phantasma from Greek. en.wiktionary.org
   • The ultimate Greek verb means to make visible. en.wiktionary.org
   • Fantome was a Middle English spelling. en.wiktionary.org
   • The initial ph- was restored under the influence of the classical spelling. upload.wikimedia.org
2. 2
   fakeadjective

   Fictitious, or not really existing.

   Auditors found that the company had been paying salaries to dozens of phantom employees.

   Investigators traced the donations to a phantom charity that existed only on paper.

   UsageGoes before its noun: phantom employees, a phantom charity, a phantom limb.

   Similarfictitious, nonexistent, fake, imaginary

   Oppositereal, genuine

   Note

   Where the "illusive" adjective is about being fooled, this one is about absence: the thing is named, counted or even felt, and still is not there. A phantom limb is the familiar case, the felt presence of a limb that has been lost; phantom employees are payroll names with no real worker behind them. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • A phantom limb is the experienced presence of a limb after its physical loss. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
   • Phantom employees may be fictitious people or real people who do not work for the employer. help.highbond.com
3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   Something that seems to be seen, heard, or sensed but has no physical reality, existing only in the mind as an illusion or delusion.

   After three days without sleep, he began chasing phantoms at the edge of his vision.

   The fear of failure was a phantom she had built up in her own mind.

   UsageOften chase phantoms: imagined dangers or problems.

   Similarillusion, delusion, hallucination, chimera

4. 4
   adjective

   Based on an illusion; seeming real or likely but deceptive.

   The heat made a phantom lake shimmer on the highway ahead.

   Heavy phone users often feel phantom vibrations, a buzz in the pocket when no call has come in.

   UsageGoes before its noun: a phantom lake, phantom vibrations.

   Similarillusory, imaginary, deceptive

   Oppositereal

   Note

   Stephen Crane's Twelve O'Clock (1899) catches the shade exactly: a town "always gassing of phantom investors" who were likely to come any moment and pay a thousand prices for everything. The investors are real enough in the talk; the deception lies in believing in them. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Stephen Crane wrote Twelve O'Clock. en.wiktionary.org
   • Twelve O'Clock was published in 1899. stephencranesociety.com
   • The story's narrator describes the town talking about imaginary investors expected to arrive and pay extravagant prices; the quoted wording is exact. en.wikisource.org
5. 5
   microphone powernouncolloquialuncountableabbreviation

   Short for phantom power: a DC voltage, usually 48 volts, that a mixer or audio interface sends through a microphone cable to run condenser microphones.

   Don't forget to switch on phantom before you test the condenser mic.

   The mixer supplies phantom to each channel, so the microphones need no batteries.

   UsageEngineers turn on phantom, and a condenser mic needs phantom, with no a in front.

6. 6
   medical imagingnouncountable or uncountable

   In medical imaging, a test object built to reproduce the characteristics of human tissue.

   Each morning the technician scans a phantom to confirm the CT machine is calibrated.

   Researchers tested the new ultrasound probe on gel phantoms before trying it on patients.

   Note

   Scanners are checked against these the way a scale is checked against a known weight: because a phantom's properties are known precisely, blur or error in the image can be traced to the machine. They range from a water-filled cylinder to a gel block that mimics breast tissue or a plastic torso with simulated organs and bones, and they let a scanner be calibrated with no patient on the table. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts

   • Scanners are checked by comparing their images with a reference object's known properties. nvlpubs.nist.gov
   • Reference properties are measured with stated uncertainties, rather than known exactly. onlinelibrary.wiley.com
   • Blur or errors can reflect scan settings or phantom-related effects; they do not uniquely identify a machine fault. accreditationsupport.acr.org
   • Imaging phantoms include water-filled cylinders. qrm.de
   • Gel phantoms can mimic breast tissue. cirsinc.com
   • Plastic torso phantoms contain simulated organs and bones. kyotokagaku.com
   • Phantoms allow scanner calibration without using a patient. nist.gov

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