# phantom

Pronunciation: US say "FAN-tuhm" /ˈfæntəm/; UK

## Noun

1. A ghost, or a similar apparition that seems to appear before someone.
   - Simple: A ghost, or a strange shape that seems to appear like one.
   - _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._
3. Something that seems to be seen, heard, or sensed but has no physical reality, existing only in the mind as an illusion or delusion.
   - Simple: Something you think you see, hear, or feel, but that is not really there.
   - _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._
5. 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. *(colloquial)* — Short for phantom power
   - Simple: Short for phantom power: the power a mixer sends down a cable to run some 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._
6. In medical imaging, a test object built to reproduce the characteristics of human tissue.
   - Simple: In medical scans, an object that copies how human body tissue behaves, used for testing.
   - _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._

## Adjective

2. Fictitious, or not really existing.
   - Simple: Not real, 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._
4. Based on an illusion; seeming real or likely but deceptive.
   - Simple: Seeming to be real, but only an illusion.
   - _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._

## Other meanings

- (noun) In bridge, a placeholder that stands in for a missing pair of players when an odd number of pairs are playing.

## Origin

From Middle English fantome, from Old French fantosme, from Latin phantasma, “an apparition, specter,” from Ancient Greek phántasma, “an appearance, image, apparition,” from phantázō, “I make visible.” It is a doublet of phantasm.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/phantom (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).