Definition of "figment"

He had not seen sarcomeres: these segments were a figment of his imagination.

1989 (Sep 30), R. McNeill Alexander, "Biomechanics in the days before Newton", New Scientist volume 123, No. 1684, page 59

Perhaps, dear reader, you are only a figment in the dream of some god, as Sherlock Holmes was a figment in the mind of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

1999, Martin Gardner, The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener, page 12

Jung's implication here is clearly that one should try to forget that this is only a figment or fantasy, merely make-believe—or perhaps that one should forget the “only,” the “merely”—and indeed take the fantasy seriously as a reality.

2004, Daniel C. Noel, In a Wayward Mood: Selected Writings 1969-2002, page 256