ghost

[ gohst ]

/ goʊst /

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See synonyms for: ghost / ghosted / ghoster / ghostest on Thesaurus.com

noun

the soul of a dead person, a disembodied spirit imagined, usually as a vague, shadowy or evanescent form, as wandering among or haunting living persons.

a mere shadow or semblance; a trace: He's a ghost of his former self.

a remote possibility: He hasn't a ghost of a chance.

(sometimes initial capital letter) a spiritual being.

the principle of life; soul; spirit.

Informal. ghostwriter.

a secondary image, especially one appearing on a television screen as a white shadow, caused by poor or double reception or by a defect in the receiver.

Also called ghost im·age

[gohst-im-ij] /ˈgoʊst ˌɪm ɪdʒ/ .Photography. a faint secondary or out-of-focus image in a photographic print or negative resulting from reflections within the camera lens.

an oral word game in which each player in rotation adds a letter to those supplied by preceding players, the object being to avoid ending a word.

Optics. a series of false spectral lines produced by a diffraction grating with unevenly spaced lines.

Metalworking. a streak appearing on a freshly machined piece of steel containing impurities.

a red blood cell having no hemoglobin.

a fictitious employee, business, etc., fabricated especially for the purpose of manipulating funds or avoiding taxes: Investigation showed a payroll full of ghosts.

verb (used with object)

to ghostwrite (a book, speech, etc.).

to haunt.

Engraving. to lighten the background of (a photograph) before engraving.

Informal.

to suddenly end all contact with (a person) without explanation, especially in a romantic relationship:The guy I’ve been dating ghosted me.
to leave (a social event or gathering) suddenly without saying goodbye:My friend ghosted my birthday party.

Digital Technology. to remove (comments, threads, or other digital content) from a website or online forum without informing the poster, keeping them hidden from the public but still visible to the poster.

verb (used without object)

to ghostwrite.

to go about or move like a ghost.

(of a sailing vessel) to move when there is no perceptible wind.

to pay people for work not performed, especially as a way of manipulating funds.

Informal.

to suddenly end all contact with a person without explanation, especially in a romantic relationship:They dated for a month and then she ghosted.
to leave a social event or gathering suddenly without saying goodbye:I'm getting tired so I think I might just ghost.

Digital Technology. to remove comments, threads, or other digital content from a website or online forum without informing the poster, keeping them hidden from the public but still visible to the poster.

adjective

fabricated for purposes of deception or fraud: We were making contributions to a ghost company.

OTHER WORDS FOR ghost

1 apparition, phantom, phantasm, wraith, revenant; shade, spook.

See synonyms for ghost on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

QUIZ YOURSELF ON "WAS" VS. "WERE"!

Were you ready for a quiz on this topic? Well, here it is! See how well you can differentiate between the uses of "was" vs. "were" in this quiz.

Question 1 of 7

“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.

true

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Idioms about ghost

give up the ghost,

to die.
to cease to function or exist.

Origin of ghost

First recorded before 900; Middle English goost (noun), Old English gāst; cognate with German Geist spirit

synonym study for ghost

1. Ghost, specter, spirit all refer to the disembodied soul of a person. A ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person, which appears or otherwise makes its presence known to the living: the ghost of a drowned child. A specter is a ghost or apparition of more or less weird, unearthly, or terrifying aspect: a frightening specter. Spirit is often interchangeable with ghost but may mean a supernatural being, usually with an indication of good or malign intent toward human beings: the spirit of a friend; an evil spirit.

OTHER WORDS FROM ghost

ghost·i·ly, adverbghost·like, adjectivede·ghost, verb (used with object)un·ghost·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use ghost in a sentence

How the thin wisps of spray, like so much smoke, shot up through the darkness, white and ghostlike!
The Rival Campers Afloat|Ruel Perley Smith
A white owl that lived in the ivy that covered the north side of the house floated, ghostlike, through the gathering darkness.
Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents and Strange Events|S. Baring-Gould
Red lights and green lights on ghostlike shadows dotted the stretch of foggy water.
The Wasted Generation|Owen Johnson
The same almost ghostlike stillness continued, orders were passed backward and forward in whispers.
Mysterious Mr. Sabin|E. Phillips Oppenheim

In two minutes more the carriage halted again, before a building which looked white and ghostlike through the mist.
Night and Morning, Complete|Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British Dictionary definitions for ghost

ghost

/ (ɡəʊst) /

noun

the disembodied spirit of a dead person, supposed to haunt the living as a pale or shadowy vision; phantomRelated adjective: spectral

a haunting memorythe ghost of his former life rose up before him

a faint trace or possibility of something; glimmera ghost of a smile

the spirit; soul (archaic, except in the phrase the Holy Ghost)

physics

a faint secondary image produced by an optical system
a similar image on a television screen, formed by reflection of the transmitting waves or by a defect in the receiver

See ghost word

Also called: ghost edition an entry recorded in a bibliography of which no actual proof exists

Another name for ghostwriterSee ghostwrite

(modifier) falsely recorded as doing a particular job or fulfilling a particular function in order that some benefit, esp money, may be obtaineda ghost worker

give up the ghost

to die
(of a machine) to stop working

verb

See ghostwrite

(tr) to haunt

(intr) to move effortlessly and smoothly, esp unnoticedhe ghosted into the penalty area

Derived forms of ghost

ghostlike, adjective

Word Origin for ghost

Old English gāst; related to Old Frisian jēst, Old High German geist spirit, Sanskrit hēda fury, anger

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with ghost

ghost

In addition to the idiom beginning with ghost

ghost town

also see:

Chinaman's (ghost of a) chance
give up the ghost

ghost

OTHER WORDS FOR ghost

Idioms about ghost

Origin of ghost

synonym study for ghost

OTHER WORDS FROM ghost

Words related to ghost

How to use ghost in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for ghost

Derived forms of ghost

Word Origin for ghost

Other Idioms and Phrases with ghost