phantasm

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an apparition, phantom, or image that appears real but has no physical existence

   In the fog, every tree became a threatening phantasm.

2. 2
   noun

   in philosophy, a mental or sensory image present before intellectual interpretation

   The philosopher distinguished the immediate phantasm from the concept formed by reason.

A learned variant of phantom, passing through Middle English fantosme and Old French fantosme or fantasme from Latin phantasma, itself from Ancient Greek phantasma ('appearance, image, apparition'). Phantom is a doublet from the same historical source.

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