adjective
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of or resembling a ghost; spectral
a ghostly face appeared at the window
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suggesting the presence of ghosts; eerie
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archaic of or relating to the soul or spirit
Other Word Forms
- ghostliness noun
- unghostly adjective
Etymology
Origin of ghostly
before 900; Middle English; Old English gāstlīc. See ghost, -ly
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.
The subjects are seated on sets that are celestial-looking in their angular bareness, and nearly all are photographed with ghostly shadows cast across their faces.
Dishes of bean cakes and rice balls had been placed on the altar shelf for ghostly visitors.
From Literature
That phrase will take on new meaning this July as Disneyland announced its famed ghostly estate will become available for weddings for the first time.
From Los Angeles Times
The one of the ghostly figure with a glowing lantern, standing on top of the bluff.
From Literature
And when these apparitions vanish, the text’s overriding theme—of life’s evanescence but also its beauty—does finally dovetail with the ghostly images created by the technology.
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.
