PHANTOM Synonyms: 124 Similar and Opposite Words

phantom 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of phantom

as in imaginary

not real and existing only in the imagination the company claimed that the only hazards involving its product were the phantom dangers created by consumer groups

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

phantom

2 of 2

noun

ˈfan-təm

as in ghost

the soul of a dead person thought of especially as appearing to living people Halloween is supposed to be a time when phantoms return to walk among us

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of phantom

Adjective

Congress must crack down on fraud including upcoding and phantom billing, fraudulent facility fees and medical price gouging that benefits corporations over patients. — Elijah Manley, Sun Sentinel, 9 July 2026 During the Cold War, quixotic Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha built some 750,000 concrete pillboxes to fend off a phantom invasion that never came. — Max Grinstein, The Washington Examiner, 3 July 2026

Noun

Bookies hid in New York City shadows, degenerate phantoms who brought ill repute to the games. — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 18 Mar. 2026 The Stygiomedusa gigantea, commonly known as the giant phantom jelly, was filmed at 250 meters below the surface. — Michelle Del Rey, USA Today, 4 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for phantom

Recent Examples of Synonyms for phantom

Adjective

Other use cases for Google Earth’s image generation include visualizing future or imaginary projects.

— Jibin Joseph, PC Magazine, 31 July 2026
For years, Ryan Coogler, Chadwick Boseman and Marvel Comics have brought to the world Wakanda, an imaginary African nation powerful enough to control its resources, protect its culture and build its future without the rest of the world’s permission.

— Richard Fowler, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026

Definition of imaginary

Adjective

Schools received an email from a fictitious two-parent household with both a mother and father interested in enrolling a child.

— Kristy Buzard, The Conversation, 4 Aug. 2026
Twenty years later, Hughes would shoot some of his films at his alma mater, which would serve as the fictitious Shermer High School in the hits The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

— Al Shipley, SPIN, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of fictitious

Noun

That is, until miraculous apparitions turn it into a place to be.

— Marta Balaga, Variety, 17 July 2026
The music starts to shift beginning with the third episode, when Lestat becomes overwhelmed by the apparition of his abusive maker and other ghosts, including Claudia, whose killing he’d been forced to witness firsthand.

— Hannah Giorgis Yohannes, Vanity Fair, 13 July 2026

Definition of apparition

Adjective

Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, and Nick Jonas will all reprise their roles as the fictional Gray brothers in the band Connect 3, with comedian Sherry Cola also joining the cast.

— Madison E. Goldberg, PEOPLE, 5 Aug. 2026
Bud Billiken, the page’s fictional editor/mascot described as the guardian and protector of children, was invented by Abbott and the Defender’s executive editor Lucius Harper.

— Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2026

Definition of fictional

Noun

Cooking classes, yoga lessons, meditation experiences, and live entertainment are also vacation activities that enhance the body and the spirit.

— Patricia Doherty, Travel + Leisure, 5 Aug. 2026
The rooms All are subtly and swankily music-themed in the spirit of the hotel’s strong music history (Carnegie Hall is nearly next door) and art works focusing on instruments placed throughout the property were curated by The Met.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Aug. 2026

Definition of spirit

Adjective

Over the course of 13 test flights, SpaceX has attempted to fly Starship along roughly the same suborbital path, while the company has tweaked, re-imagined and designed around various issues that have emerged throughout the flight campaign.

— Jackie Wattles, CNN Money, 3 Aug. 2026
Not always very precisely balanced between horror, homage and mystery, this intriguing if unevenly realized construct will nonetheless lure genre fans and nostalgists alike with its imagined back chapter of golden-age Hollywood.

— Dennis Harvey, Variety, 31 July 2026

Definition of imagined

Browse Nearby Words

phantasms

phantom

phantoms

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“Phantom.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phantom. Accessed 9 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of phantom

adjective

noun

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