phantom

Word family

phan·tom1 /ˈfæntəm/ noun [countableC] literary

1. GHOSTthe image of a dead person or strange thing that someone thinks they see 鬼魂，幽灵 SYN ghost

2. IMAGINEsomething that exists only in your imagination 幻象；幻影；幻觉

Examples from the Corpus

phantom• She was simply swallowed up like a phantom.• Suddenly a phantom appeared out of the mist, terrifying the hikers.• Tantalizing, ill-defined phantoms moved across its surface and in its depths.• Not even the grimmest phantoms of pagan imagination are wantonly malignant.• And one Phantom, instead of many phantoms.

phantom2 adjectiveadj [only before noun]

1 literary seeming to appear to someone 幽灵似的，如梦如幻的

a phantom ship

一艘幽灵船

2 not real, but seeming real to the person affected 虚幻的；幻觉的

a phantom pregnancy

精神性假妊娠

nphantom limb (=an arm or leg that someone feels they still have after it has been cut off)

nphantom fat (=fat that someone believes they still have after they have lost weight)

3 made to seem real in order to deceive people 虚假的

Phantom contracts were used to make the company seem more successful than it was.

为让公司业务显得比实际上兴旺，使用了假合同。

4 used humorously to describe an unknown person that you blame for something annoying 〔指责对象〕身份不明的〔幽默用法〕

The phantom pen stealer strikes again!

那个神秘的偷笔人又下手了！

Examples from the Corpus

phantom• But for her the phantom baby that came to life dancing in her fantasy was a baffling problem.• Climbers Doug Scott and Nick Estcourt both said they saw or sensed phantom climbers.• phantom limb pain in amputees• Who would be her phantom lover?• Together with teacher absence and phantom payrolls, this leaks educational resources away from their intended use.• He planned to fix the election using phantom votes.

Origin phantom1

(1200-1300) Old French fantosme, from Latin phantasma; → PHANTASM

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