phantasm

[fan-taz-uh m] /ˈfæn tæz əm/
noun
1.
an apparition or specter.
2.
a creation of the imagination or fancy; fantasy.
3.
a mental image or representation of a real object.
4.
an illusory likeness of something.
Also, fantasm.
Origin
1175-1225; < Latin phantasma < Greek phántasma image, vision (akin to phantázein to bring before the mind); replacing Middle English fantesme < Old French < Latin as above
Synonyms
1. ghost, vision. See apparition. 4. hallucination, illusion.
Examples from the web for phantasm
  • And it was no mere puerile phantasm that caused me to imagine this community, either.
British Dictionary definitions for phantasm

phantasm

/ˈfæntæzəm/
noun
1.
a phantom
2.
an illusory perception of an object, person, etc
3.
(in the philosophy of Plato) objective reality as distorted by perception
Derived Forms
phantasmal, phantasmic, adjective
phantasmally, phantasmically, adverb
Word Origin
C13: from Old French fantasme, from Latin phantasma, from Greek; related to Greek phantazein to cause to be seen, from phainein to show
Word Origin and History for phantasm
n.

early 13c., fantesme, from Old French fantosme "a dream, illusion, fantasy; apparition, ghost, phantom" (12c.), and directly from Latin phantasma "an apparition, specter," from Greek phantasma "image, phantom, apparition; mere image, unreality," from phantazein "to make visible, display," from stem of phainein "to bring to light, make appear; come to light, be seen, appear; explain, expound, inform against; appear to be so," from PIE root *bha- (1) "to shine" (cf. Sanskrit bhati "shines, glitters," Old Irish ban "white, light, ray of light"). Spelling conformed to Latin from 16c. (see ph). A spelling variant of phantom, "differentiated, but so that the differences are elusive" [Fowler].

phantasm in Medicine

phantasm phan·tasm (fān'tāz'əm)
n.

  1. Something apparently seen but having no physical reality; an apparition.

  2. An illusory mental image.