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n. 1. Something apparently seen but having no physical reality; a phantom or an apparition. Also called phantasma. 2. An illusory mental image. Also called phantasma. 3. In Platonic philosophy, objective reality as perceived and distorted by the five senses. [Middle English fantasme, from Old French, from Latin phantasma, from Greek, from phantazein, to make visible, from phantos, visible, from phainein, to show; see bhā-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] phan·tasmal (făn-tăzməl), phan·tasmic (-tăzmĭk) adj. |
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