eidolon

Definition

An image or representation of an idea; a representation of an ideal form; an apparition of some actual or imaginary entity, or of some aspect of reality.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek εἴδωλον (eídōlon, “figure, representation”), from εἶδος (eîdos, “sight”), from εἴδω (eídō, “I see”). Doublet of aidoru, idol, and idolum and related to idea.

Example Sentences

• "As a species it is extinct; as an eidolon it retains its corporeality – but only if maintained in a state of equipoise."
• "It was not hard to forge her image, her "eidolon", in the grey gloom of the little church."
• "[…]Kit was sitting up staring into the dark at this eidolon, inelegantly turned out contrary to a whole raft of public-decency statutes, which had come monitory and breathing in to violate Kit's insomnia."