ghost town

American  

noun

1. a town permanently abandoned by its inhabitants, as because of a business decline or because a nearby mine has been worked out.

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ghost town British  

noun

1. a deserted town, esp one in the western US that was formerly a boom town

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ghost town Cultural  

1. A town, especially a boomtown in the old American West, that has been completely abandoned and deserted: “If you drive through the desert, you can still see the main street of Dry Gulch, a ghost town.”

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ghost town Idioms  

1. A once thriving town that has been completely abandoned, as in Many of the old mining communities are ghost towns now. This idiom implies that there are no living people left in town. [First half of 1900s]

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Etymology

Origin of ghost town

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

Ghost town mystery: One of California’s biggest ghost towns, near Joshua Tree National Park, was bought for $22.6 million by an obscure private company, The Los Angeles Times reports.

From New York Times • May 25, 2023

Related: Ghost town: heroes of the golden age haunt modern Detroit – in pictures A recent art project by Berlin and Naples-based artist Ryan Mendoza contributes to this simplistic story of the city.

From The Guardian • Feb. 15, 2016