wraith
Americannoun
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an apparition of a living person supposed to portend their death.
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a visible spirit.
noun
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the apparition of a person living or thought to be alive, supposed to appear around the time of his death
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a ghost or any apparition
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an insubstantial copy of something
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something pale, thin, and lacking in substance, such as a column of smoke
Other Word Forms
- wraithlike adjective
Etymology
Origin of wraith
First recorded in 1505–15; originally Scots; origin uncertain
Explanation
If you have a vision of your grandfather just before he passes away, you have seen a wraith or a ghostly image. Wraith can also mean something thin, wispy, or ghost-like. You could call a wisp of smoke rising from a chimney a wraith or you could say that a sick aunt had been reduced to a wraith — a thin, ghostly, figure. Sometimes it's even a compliment, which shows how we idealize wraith-like fashion models. Wraith is of unknown origins, and there aren't any other words related to it.
Vocabulary lists containing wraith
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Grim Reader: Wicked Words of Grave Importance for Halloween
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Uncanny, Creepy, or Downright Scary: Words For Halloween
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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.
He arrived to find a wraith in her 80s, down to 75 pounds, suffering from multiple cancers that had disfigured her face.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 27, 2024
The original Beetlejuice, which starred Michael Keaton as an obnoxious wraith hired to help scare away a house's pretentious inhabitants, was released back in 1988.
From BBC • Dec. 24, 2023
This Diana, a pale wraith who clutches at her children like she needs them to keep her tethered, is a bird in a luxurious trap; we see the eating disorders, the mental illness, the misery.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 4, 2021
No such strategies can keep the Lyceum’s own pervasive Mina, the vengeful wraith of a murdered girl who haunts the theater, from infiltrating Bram’s thoughts.
From New York Times • Jun. 16, 2020
She was proud of how calm she’d managed to make herself, standing there without even a tremble, waiting for some unfathomable wraith to come and deal with her.
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
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.
