ghost town
noun
a town permanently abandoned by its inhabitants, as because of a business decline or because a nearby mine has been worked out.
ghost towns
-
pluralof ghost town.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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.
Broken pumps, rusted pipes, ghost towns mark Venezuela’s once vibrant oil hub.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
Winds are slowly blowing sand into the 75-mile trench meant to hold a bullet train, while once-bustling worker camps have turned to ghost towns, one former employee said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026
Tchiroma, stowed away in his residence since Monday, said Friday that part of the army was protecting him and called for public support through a "ghost towns" strategy from Monday to Wednesday.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2025
The neighborhoods that once bustled with traffic and pedestrians were like ghost towns shortly after sunrise, with a heavy silence blanketing the area except for the occasional bleating from a lone goat.
From Seattle Times ● May 2, 2024
There was a time, not very long ago, in the desperately poor New York City neighborhoods of Brownsville and East New York, when the streets would turn into ghost towns at dusk.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
