0 a spirit of a dead person believed by some to visit the living as a pale, almost transparent form of a person, animal, or other object --
1 like a ghost: --
UK Although she grew bigger, she later discovered it was a phantom ( US false) pregnancy.
They discovered it was a phantom organization set up for the processing of drug profits.
Although she had to have her leg amputated, she still feels as though she's got a phantom limb.
humorous The phantom wine-drinker has been around (= an unknown person has been drinking the wine)!
A phantom coach is said to pass through the grounds of this house when there's a full moon.
2 something that appears or seems to exist but is not real or is imagined --
It is not an implausible position on its own, but it seems to be in conflict with the case of paralyzed phantom limb patients.
His generosity prompts an incredible event: the mysterious reconnection of the dead body-part to a phantom form.
The phantom includes a 'flood field' module for image uniformity assessment.
For a bidder the auction system offers an optional "phantom" bidding service, called proxy bidding, which is equivalent to initialisation of a buying agent.
Using a suitable phantom, it is possible to assess a number of standard image quality characteristics.
The dual phantom of the side-by-side complex cussedness and orderliness of nature has been in vogue from early times.
This "phantom types" technique, where user-defined restrictions are reflected in the constrained types of values and functions, underlies many interesting uses of type systems.
This study was experimental and performed using a cylindrical phantom.