figment

noun

fig·​ment ˈfig-mənt 

: something made up or contrived

Did you know?

A figment is something formed from imaginary elements. Daydreams are figments; nightmares are figments that can seem very real. Most figments are everyday fears and hopes about small things that turn out to be imaginary. But when the radio play "The War of the Worlds" aired in 1938, it caused a panic among thousands of people who didn't realize the Martian invasion was just a figment of the author's imagination.

Synonyms

• chimera
• conceit
• daydream
• delusion
• dream
• fancy
• fantasy
• phantasy
• hallucination
• illusion
• nonentity
• phantasm
• fantasm
• pipe dream
• unreality
• vision

Examples of figment in a Sentence

unable to find any tracks in the snow the next morning, I was forced to conclude that the shadowy figure had been a figment of my imagination

thus far, the invisible human being has been nothing more than a figment of fantasy writers

Recent Examples on the Web

The sequence lands on a quintessentially Burroughs image of Allerton, here a dream figment, with a glass balancing on his head. —Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 1 Dec. 2024

Falling down the rabbit hole of a quaalude addiction, Callas names a British documentarian doing a story on her life (that is actually a figment of her imagination) after her favorite to take: Mandrax. —Amanda Luberto, The Arizona Republic, 25 Nov. 2024

Your favorite Substack writer might be an AI figment. —Melvin Backman, Quartz, 18 Nov. 2024

And even her closest confidantes reveal themselves as figments of her imagination at the most vulnerable possible moments. —Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 16 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, "fable, deceitful practice," borrowed from Latin figmentum "thing formed, image, invention," from fig-, variant stem of fingere "to mold, fashion, make a likeness of, pretend to be" + -mentum -ment — more at feign

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing figment

• a figment of one's imagination

Kids Definition

figment

noun

fig·​ment ˈfig-mənt 

: something imagined or made up