How to Use specter in a Sentence

specter

noun
  • Droughts in the mid-1960s raised the specter of famine.
    Sadanand Dhume, WSJ, 23 Dec. 2021
  • This wasn’t the first time Wallace brought up the specter of 9/11.
    Joe Silverstein, Fox News, 19 July 2022
  • Throughout it all, the specter of Covid-19 still looms over the vote.
    Caitlin Hu, CNN, 7 Nov. 2021
  • The specter of Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen loomed large.
    Los Angeles Times, 11 July 2022
  • This does raise the specter of their cutting you off from the kids.
    Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 12 Oct. 2022
  • The specter of world war is concerning, but the draft isn't.
    Heather Ainsworth For Cnn, CNN, 19 Mar. 2022
  • The specter of Keynes, at this point in the story, is hiding in a closet.
    Maggie Lange, Washington Post, 19 Jan. 2023
  • Chief among them, for the athletes and the future of the Games, is the specter of systemic doping.
    Marisa Guthrie, WWD, 14 June 2024
  • The specter of everything that happens in the last movie is there.
    Carly Thomas, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Sep. 2024
  • Still, the specter of partisan bias shadowed the project.
    Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times, 6 Oct. 2023
  • But a little more than a week into the new year, the specter of scandal reemerged.
    Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 2024
  • But even decades later, the specter of HIV never leaves him.
    Joseph Osmundson, The Atlantic, 8 June 2022
  • The bust has hung like a specter over Chimayó ever since.
    Alicia Inez Guzmán, Rolling Stone, 30 Nov. 2021
  • In fact, the specter of Nazism has always haunted the margins of this story.
    Time, 2 Nov. 2022
  • The specter of Sean Payton is no more now that he’s headed to Denver.
    Dallas News, 31 Jan. 2023
  • The specter of a debt default is no longer unthinkable.
    Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 11 Aug. 2023
  • And now, the specter of imminent full-fledged pop stardom.
    Jim Greer, SPIN, 4 Aug. 2024
  • With the specter of war crimes charges now hanging over the Israel-Hamas war, so too are questions.
    Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 May 2024
  • So in the words of every rapper faced with the ubiquitous specter of haters: Stay mad.
    Lizz Schumer, People.com, 18 Nov. 2024
  • But even the events within the city of Los Angeles are spread out, with the specter of clogged downtown streets.
    Michael Goldstein, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2024
  • For Berry, the specter of running into Beckham down the road didn’t seem to be a top concern.
    Dan Labbe, cleveland, 5 Nov. 2021
  • Even for the many who voted for him, the specter of this coalition has served as a rude awakening.
    Time, 10 Jan. 2023
  • Cities frequently have used the specter of rising crime rates as reason to pass the rules.
    Liam Dillonstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 18 Feb. 2023
  • In the space of just a few months, the specter of artificial intelligence has come to haunt the world.
    Diane Coyle, Foreign Affairs, 22 Aug. 2023
  • The specter of a wider conflict hangs over debates about how far the West should go in supporting Ukraine.
    Washington Post, 7 Mar. 2022
  • That specter alone could provoke the bond vigilante crowd.
    William Pesek, Forbes, 16 Feb. 2024
  • On the day of our second interview, the specter of a writers strike hovers.
    Tatiana Siegel, Variety, 9 May 2023
  • Shadows lengthened and slid up the walls like specters, and a chill descended on the temples.
    Monisha Rajesh, Travel + Leisure, 20 Oct. 2024
  • John Lennon claimed to see a weeping woman; when he was murdered in front of the Dakota in 1980, Lennon’s own specter was added to the list.
    Sadie Stein, Town & Country, 28 June 2022
  • But during the holiday season, people have been shopping for holiday gifts as opposed to focusing on the specter of tariffs.
    David Moin, WWD, 3 Dec. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'specter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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