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

ISLAMABAD—The Pakistani capital hosting the highest-level talks between the U.S. and Iran in decades was a ghost town on Saturday.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

Early Saturday, an overcast Islamabad felt like a ghost town, with almost no civilian traffic on its wide avenues.

From Barron's • Apr. 11, 2026

“Instead of a ghost town of property, these campuses could be reused for intergenerational connection and collaboration.”

From MarketWatch • Apr. 10, 2026

"Once again today, there is a strange atmosphere on the university campus. It's a bit like a ghost town," Jones said.

From BBC • Mar. 18, 2026

In no time, the place was a ghost town with only a few scrawny dogs riffling through garbage and crows watching from the rooftops.

From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer