Ghost Definition & Meaning

American

British

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Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms ghost American [gohst] / goʊst /

noun

1. 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.

   Synonyms: spook, shade, revenant, wraith, phantasm, phantom, apparition

2. a mere shadow or semblance; a trace.

   He's a ghost of his former self.

3. a remote possibility.

   He hasn't a ghost of a chance.

4. (sometimes initial capital letter) a spiritual being.

5. the principle of life; soul; spirit.

6. Informal. ghostwriter.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. Optics. a series of false spectral lines produced by a diffraction grating with unevenly spaced lines.

11. Metalworking. a streak appearing on a freshly machined piece of steel containing impurities.

12. a red blood cell having no hemoglobin.

13. 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)

1. to ghostwrite (a book, speech, etc.).

2. to haunt.

3. Engraving. to lighten the background of (a photograph) before engraving.

4. Informal.

   1. to suddenly end all contact with (a person) without explanation, especially in a romantic relationship.

      The guy I’ve been dating ghosted me.

   2. to leave (a social event or gathering) suddenly without saying goodbye.

      My friend ghosted my birthday party.

5. 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)

1. to ghostwrite.

2. to go about or move like a ghost.

3. (of a sailing vessel) to move when there is no perceptible wind.

4. to pay people for work not performed, especially as a way of manipulating funds.

5. Informal.

   1. to suddenly end all contact with a person without explanation, especially in a romantic relationship.

      They dated for a month and then she ghosted.

   2. to leave a social event or gathering suddenly without saying goodbye.

      I'm getting tired so I think I might just ghost.

6. 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

1. fabricated for purposes of deception or fraud.

   We were making contributions to a ghost company.

idioms

1. give up the ghost,

   1. to die.

   2. to cease to function or exist.

ghost British / ɡəʊst /

noun

1. the disembodied spirit of a dead person, supposed to haunt the living as a pale or shadowy vision; phantom

2. a haunting memory

   the ghost of his former life rose up before him

3. a faint trace or possibility of something; glimmer

   a ghost of a smile

4. the spirit; soul (archaic, except in the phrase the Holy Ghost )

5. physics

   1. a faint secondary image produced by an optical system

   2. a similar image on a television screen, formed by reflection of the transmitting waves or by a defect in the receiver

6. See ghost word

7. Also called: ghost edition. an entry recorded in a bibliography of which no actual proof exists

8. Another name for ghostwriter See ghostwrite

9. (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

10. 1. to die

    2. (of a machine) to stop working

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

1. See ghostwrite

2. (tr) to haunt

3. (intr) to move effortlessly and smoothly, esp unnoticed

   he ghosted into the penalty area

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 ghost More Idioms

More idioms and phrases containing ghost

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

Related Words

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.

Other Word Forms

• deghost verb (used with object)
• ghostily adverb
• ghostlike adjective
• unghostlike adjective

Etymology

Origin of ghost

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

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.

Consequently there will continue to be passionate, sometimes contentious, debate over whether the cosmos is gently whispering to us about its true nature, or whether astronomers are chasing celestial ghosts.

From BBC

Lawmakers, academics and regulators have documented the existence of these faulty insurance directories—often referred to as ghost networks—for years.

From The Wall Street Journal

In Victorian times, the telling, or reading, of ghost stories was a Christmas tradition; the most enduring Yule-time tale — Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” written in 1843 — is first and foremost a ghost story.

From Los Angeles Times

While the U.S. has previously targeted sanctioned oil, it is now increasingly focused on seizing ships that make up the so-called “ghost fleet” and serve the global black market for oil, the officials said.

From The Wall Street Journal

Days earlier, US forces seized the M/T Skipper, a so-called "ghost" tanker transporting over a million barrels of Venezuelan oil, reportedly destined for Cuba.

From Barron's

Related Words

• demon
• devil
• phantom
• shadow
• soul
• specter
• vampire
• vision

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.