adjective
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ghostly or eerie
a spooky house
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resembling or appropriate to a ghost
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easily frightened; highly strung
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of spooky
Explanation
Spooky things make a shiver go down your spine—they're scary or creepy. A movie's spooky music might be enough to make you cover your eyes in fear. This informal adjective is perfect for talking about things that make you feel afraid or deeply uneasy. Haunted houses are spooky, and the sound of quiet footsteps crunching through the leaves outside your tent at night are spooky too—at least until your brother yells, "Boo!" You can also use spooky to mean "easily spooked," like a nervous horse that jumps at the slightest sound.
Vocabulary lists containing spooky
October Words
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Strange
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Strange
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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.
But I am hearing from people who live in less resourced parts of the country, smaller states with smaller governments, like Vermont, who are saying this is spooky.
From Slate • May 21, 2026
He likes ruminating on these spooky, half-remembered spaces.
From Los Angeles Times • May 14, 2026
Fittingly, Rhys is currently portraying the mayor of a small island town where spooky, supernatural things keep happening on Apple TV’s comedy-horror series “Widow’s Bay.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 11, 2026
Also read: The financial sector is sending some spooky technical signals about the stock market.
From MarketWatch • May 7, 2026
I used to think all that spooky stuff about Friday the Thirteenth was just a pile of baloney.
From "Freak The Mighty" by Rodman Philbrick
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.
