ghost town

noun

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

ghost town

noun

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

ghost town

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.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of ghost town¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

But the mass arrests and fears of deportation turned the Fashion District into a ghost town for several weeks after, with storefronts shuttered and frightened workers staying home.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

His resistance tactics have included calling for street protests and "ghost town" operations aimed at bringing cities and towns to a standstill.

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One of the affected neighborhoods is Jabriyat, a wealthy area overlooking the camp that has the feel of a ghost town, where villas bear the dusty patina of abandonment.

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His death occurred in the middle of the night on a high-summer weekend, with Manhattan a ghost town.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Tchiroma's demand to turn major cities into "ghost towns" was not, however, followed to the same degree in the capital Yaounde.

Read more on Barron's