spook
Americannoun
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spooks
plural
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Slang. a ghostwriter.
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Slang. an eccentric person.
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Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a Black person.
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Slang. an espionage agent; spy.
verb (used with object)
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spooks,
present (3rd person singular)
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spooked,
past participle, past
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spooking
present participle
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to haunt; inhabit or appear in or to as a ghost or specter.
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Informal. to frighten; scare.
verb (used without object)
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spooks,
present (3rd person singular)
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spooked,
past participle, past
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spooking
present participle
noun
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a ghost or a person suggestive of this
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a spy
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slang any pale or colourless alcoholic spirit
spook and diesel
verb
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to frighten
to spook horses
to spook a person
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(of a ghost) to haunt
Sensitive Note
When referring to a black person, the term spook dates back to the 1940s. It is used with disparaging intent and is perceived as highly insulting. Black pilots who trained at Tuskegee Institute during World War II were called the Spookwaffe. Some sources say that black pilots reclaimed this derogatory nickname as a self-referential term of pride.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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spooksimple
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spookssimple
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have spookedperfect
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has spookedperfect
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am spookingprogressive
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are spookingprogressive
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is spookingprogressive
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have been spookingperfect progressive
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has been spookingperfect progressive
Past
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spookedsimple
-
had spookedperfect
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was spookingprogressive
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were spookingprogressive
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had been spookingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of spook
An Americanism first recorded in 1795–1805; from Dutch; cognate with German Spuk
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.
See Examples For:
If choppy returns might spook you into selling then look for someone less exciting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
See: The rising cost of capital for companies today is starting to spook the stock market: ‘The worry is the spending might not pay off’
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 26, 2026
In his own moment of terror, Gunn acted like a man jumping out of a cupboard trying to spook somebody.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
Headlines about collisions with pedestrians and near misses continue to spook consumers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
Up in the citadel, pacing, she felt as jumpy as though she were really there in the room with him, ready to spook at his slightest movement.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
The information is stored in a database that can be queried by U.S. spooks and often goes into the President’s daily intelligence briefing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
The correlation will break when an event spooks markets.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2025
If books are an answer to dictatorships — and as strong as “an organization packed with spooks and paramilitaries who fought in warzones” — it would be inspiring to see more of that.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2025
The report spooks participants in the crypto market.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 28, 2024
At three in the morning, by his watch, the spooks returned to interrogate him.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
Big Tech is shoveling billions of dollars into the AI buildout, leaving investors spooked and analysts behind.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
The analysts wrote in a note on Thursday that Applied Materials also faced gross-margin pressure in the near term because of its boost in capital expenditures, a factor that may have also spooked traders.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
But shares in the company tumbled on the back of the earnings report, with investors generally spooked by the huge amounts of money being spent on AI.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
The incident has spooked consumers and policymakers alike.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Howard had left a bushy gully in the center ofhis makeshift track, and one morning the sight of the horses and men spooked the deer hiding out inside.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Signal too much eagerness to cut, and he risks spooking the bond market, driving up long-term yields.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
The specific issues spooking investors looked to be potential competition in Google’s custom-chip supply chain and margin dilution.
From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026
When CVS Health reports earnings on Wednesday, it’ll cap off first quarter results among Medicare Advantage players that have fared well so far, after spooking Wall Street early in the year.
From Barron's ● May 5, 2026
Trade Desk has been one of the worst S&P 500 stocks in the past year, and the company’s growth slowdown is now spooking Wall Street even more.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 25, 2026
I spotted a bit of Geoffrey’s trouser from around the corner of the house, so I snuck around the opposite way without spooking the chickens.
From "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" by William Kamkwamba
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.
