Figment ***

figment







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–noun 

1. a mere product of mental invention; a fantastic notion: The noises in the attic were just a figment of his [imagination]. 

2. a feigned, invented, or imagined story, theory, etc.: biographical and historical figments.  



Synonyms:

2. See fiction. 



Fiction, fabrication, figment suggest a story that is without basis in reality. 



Fiction suggests a story invented and fashioned either to entertain or to deceive: clever fiction; pure fiction. 



Fabrication applies particularly to a false but carefully invented statement or series of statements, in which some truth is sometimes interwoven, the whole usually intended to deceive: fabrications to lure speculators. 



Figment applies to a tale, idea, or statement often made up to explain, justify, or glorify oneself: His rich [uncle] was a figment of his imagination. 





　

Despite the general air of unpleasantness and anxiety, and the feeling that the film, like Caden, could explode from overloaded circuits at any moment, Kaufman’s venturesome dramaturgy and compelling writing scene-by-scene are enough to keep one’s [curiosity] piqued. 



pique

–verb (used with object)

1. to affect with sharp irritation and resentment, esp. by some wound to pride: She was greatly piqued when they refused her [invitation].  

3. to excite (interest, curiosity, etc.): Her [curiosity] was piqued by the gossip. 



Significantly crushed by illnesses, the drudgery of life and his failures with women, Caden doesn’t seem like the genius he sees himself as, and the inspiration triggered by the sudden blessing of complete artistic freedom may also be only a figment of his imagination. 



Whatever the case, Hoffman embodies him completely, forcing the audience to share his every physical and emotional wound.





falsehood

a statement distorts or suppresses the truth, 

in order to deceive

to tell a falsehood about one's ancestry in order to [gain] acceptance. 

fib 

minor falsehood

"I told a fib about my [age]," Little Tom said.

She told director Kimberly Peirce that, like her character, she was also 21 and came from Lincoln, Nebraska. But she was [fibbing], 

fob

foist

to foist [inferior] merchandise [on] a customer. 

to foist [political] views [into] a news story. 

Danny derides even the most eminent Jews -- Marx, Freud and Einstein -- for having foisted "communism, infantile sexuality and the atom bomb" [upon] the world. 



bogus

spurious, sham

what Jefferson was saying was, "Hey! we left this England place cause it was bogus. So if we don't get some cool rules ourselves... pronto, we'll just be bogus too."

Sham