ghost

1 of 2

noun

ˈgōst 

plural ghosts

1

: the seat of life or intelligence : soul

give up the ghost

2

: a disembodied soul

especially : the soul of a dead person believed to be an inhabitant of the unseen world or to appear to the living in bodily likeness

3

: spirit, demon

4

a

: a faint shadowy trace

a ghost of a smile

b

: the least bit

not a ghost of a chance

5

: a false image in a photographic negative or on a television screen caused especially by reflection

6

: one who ghostwrites

7

: a red blood cell that has lost its hemoglobin

ghostlike

ˈgōst-ˌlīk 

adjective

ghosty

ˈgō-stē 

adjective

ghost

2 of 2

verb

ghosted; ghosting; ghosts

transitive verb

1

: to haunt like a ghost

2

: ghostwrite

ghosted the mayor's autobiography

3

informal : to cut off all contact with (someone) abruptly and usually without explanation : to subject (someone, such as a former romantic partner) to ghosting see ghosting sense 2

No one wants to be ghosted, mostly because it sucks to admit that the person you gushed about last week is now pretending you don't exist …

—Ellen Scott

intransitive verb

1

a

: to move silently like a ghost

b

: to sail quietly in light winds

2

: ghostwrite

Synonyms

Noun

• apparition
• bogey
• bogie
• bogy
• familiar spirit
• hant [dialect]
• haunt [chiefly dialect]
• materialization
• phantasm
• fantasm
• phantom
• poltergeist
• shade
• shadow
• specter
• spectre
• spirit
• spook
• sprite
• vision
• visitant
• wraith

Examples of ghost in a Sentence

Noun

a house haunted by ghosts

looked for ghosts in the graveyard on Halloween

Verb

She ghosted the mayor's autobiography.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Easier said than done since many of the ghosts that haunt Light Shop are jump-out-of-your-seat scary. —Joan MacDonald, Forbes, 9 Dec. 2024

The ultimate effect is paradoxical: the more that Valéry eliminates the ghost of pain and passion from the logical machinery of his work, the starker and more affecting the moans and cries of the ghost become. —Benjamin Kunkel, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2024

Verb

Expect performances from her holiday EP, fruitcake; duets with Shania Twain and Kali Uchis; and a couple of skits, including one in which Quinta Brunson is ghosted by a guy (Nico Hiraga) who promised to take her to Wicked (rude). —Savannah Salazar, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2024

An issue that plagues e-ink screens is there are often signs of ghosting — faint shadows of whatever was shown on the previous screen remains on the screen for a short period of time. —Ben Sin, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

Middle English gost, gast, from Old English gāst; akin to Old High German geist spirit, Sanskrit heḍa anger

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

circa 1616, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing ghost

• ghost chili
• ghost gun
• ghost kitchen
• ghost of a chance
• ghost pepper
• ghost/shadow of one's former self
• ghost story
• ghost town
• ghost word
• give up the ghost

Kids Definition

ghost

1 of 2 noun

ˈgōst

: the soul of a dead person thought of as living in an unseen world or as appearing to living people

ghost

2 of 2 verb

ghosted; ghosting

1

: to haunt like a ghost

2

: ghostwrite

3

informal : to cut off contact with (someone) abruptly and usually without explanation

Medical Definition

ghost

noun

ˈgōst 

: a structure (as a cell or tissue) that does not stain normally because of degenerative changes

specifically : a red blood cell that has lost its hemoglobin