ghost story
Americannoun
-
ghost stories
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ghost story
First recorded in 1810–20
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It was a bit like a scene from a ghost story; after the buried treasure or family secret is discovered, the disruptive spirit that catalyzed the action is finally allowed to rest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Strikingly, “Ghost-Eye” has none of the eerie mood of a Gothic novel or ghost story.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
“Presence” was a ghost story about teenage loneliness, filmed from the perspective of a spirit haunting the house a grieving family has just moved into.
From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2026
Toni Morrison, whose “Beloved” changed me when I first read it as a teen, showed me how a novel can be ghost story, reckoning, testimony and lullaby all at once.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2025
The way she told it—even now, six years later—freaked me out worse than any ghost story I’d ever heard.
From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
