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View synonyms for specter

specter

[ spek-ter ]

noun

  1. a visible incorporeal spirit, especially one of a terrifying nature; ghost; phantom; apparition.

    Synonyms: shade

  2. some object or source of terror or dread:

    the specter of disease or famine.



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Word History and Origins

Origin of specter1

First recorded 1595–1605; from Latin spectrum “appearance, form”; spectrum

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Synonym Study

See ghost.

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Example Sentences

In 2019, as annual visitor numbers topped 3 million for the first time, locals loudly lamented crowding, traffic and the specter of paradise lost.

The first night, my sims met friendly green specters, which are different from the normal ghost sims that were included in the base game.

Each time the specter arrived, he’d wordlessly express love and leave Evan with a sense of peace and calm.

The UK and EU have reached a trade agreement, avoiding the specter of a no-deal Brexit and ending years of extreme economic uncertainty on both sides.

From Quartz

He focused on the importance of strict election deadlines and raised the specter of “chaos” if the Democrats won this case.

Despite his efforts to live in the present, he seemed haunted by the specter of his father.

Against the Grain By Michael Specter, The New Yorker Should you go gluten-free?

The specter of wrongful convictions haunts the public officials involved.

The specter of this virus fills some of our most stalwart souls with unreasoning dread even when it is no immediate threat.

If 80,000 is the population of Danbury, 60 million is the population of California and Texas combined: no small specter, that.

The fatality of war was now hovering over them like a huge black specter.

Lightbody, overturning chair and table, sprang up—recoiling as one recoils before an avenging specter.

Two of them, the latter and Moreau, saw the specter of French sovereignty beckoning them on.

In the midst of their furious, living activity, the specter of death had suddenly appeared.

Meanwhile a Northern politician brought on the specter of Napoleon for a different purpose.

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