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

Students at the University of Kent have called the campus a "ghost town", as people returned home or stayed indoors.

From BBC

Economics student Mohammed Olayinka said the campus was "a bit of a ghost town", adding some thought it best to stay, but others "panicked and left".

From BBC

The campus is a virtual ghost town - the only people out and about are those in the long queues for precautionary antibiotics.

From BBC

Before Thursday's orders, much of Nabatieh already had the feeling of a ghost town.

From BBC

In the first days of the war, Tehran could seem like a ghost town.

From Barron's