Ghosts

[ gohsts ]

/ goʊsts /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR Ghosts ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a play (1881) by Henrik Ibsen.

Definition for ghosts (2 of 2)

ghost

[ gohst ]

/ goʊst /

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. ghost writer.

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 image. 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.

Origin of ghost

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

SYNONYMS FOR ghost

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

SEE SYNONYMS FOR ghost ON THESAURUS.COM

OTHER WORDS FROM ghost

ghost·i·ly, adverb ghost·like, adjective de·ghost, verb (used with object) un·ghost·like, adjective

Example sentences from the Web for ghosts

For more than a century, Americans have been fretting about these sorts of ghosts.

Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers |Michael Schulson |July 27, 2016 |DAILY BEAST
There are ghosts that may flutter above the stage at the Met.

When Stalin Met Lady Macbeth |Brian Moynahan |November 9, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
In order to get the ghosts to glow, we had to do what was called a double burn.

Garfield Television: The Cat Who Saved Primetime Cartoons |Rich Goldstein |November 5, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
By 2010, Hunter was directing a well received revival of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts at Access Theatre on Broadway.

Meet the Future Mrs. Benedict Cumberbatch |Tom Sykes |November 5, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

Today, a forlorn air hangs over Santa Maria degli Angeli, like a graveyard where ghosts are buried.

The Venetian Nuns Who Ditched Their Habits for High Fashion |Liza Foreman |September 14, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Ghosts are variable with respect to sounds as well as appearance.

The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction |Dorothy Scarborough
We parted and went our several ways, leaving the little cloisters to solitude and the ghosts that haunted them.

Glories of Spain |Charles W. Wood
There was a profound silence about them, and these snow-covered men were like ghosts walking through cities of death.

Now It Can Be Told |Philip Gibbs
It is colloquialism; but it is such colloquialism as ghosts or vampires would use.

Visions and Revisions |John Cowper Powys
Hence it has its burial-place and its pious hearth for the sacrifices to be offered to their ghosts.

The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3) |Sir James George Frazer

British Dictionary definitions for ghosts

ghost

/ (ɡəʊst) /

noun

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

a haunting memory the ghost of his former life rose up before him

a faint trace or possibility of something; glimmer a 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 ghostwriter See ghostwrite

(modifier) falsely recorded as doing a particular job or fulfilling a particular function in order that some benefit, esp money, may be obtained a 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 unnoticed he 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

Idioms and Phrases with ghosts

ghost

In addition to the idiom beginning with ghost

ghost town

also see:

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

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

Ghosts

noun

Definition for ghosts (2 of 2)

noun

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

adjective

Origin of ghost

SYNONYMS FOR ghost

OTHER WORDS FROM ghost

Example sentences from the Web for ghosts

British Dictionary definitions for ghosts

noun

verb

Derived forms of ghost

Word Origin for ghost

Idioms and Phrases with ghosts

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

Ghosts

noun

Definition for ghosts (2 of 2)

noun

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

adjective

Origin of ghost

SYNONYMS FOR ghost

OTHER WORDS FROM ghost

Words related to ghosts

Example sentences from the Web for ghosts

British Dictionary definitions for ghosts

noun

verb

Derived forms of ghost

Word Origin for ghost

Idioms and Phrases with ghosts