Specter

Quick meaning: Specter is a noun meaning A ghostly apparition, a phantom. [from 17th c.].

Meaning

A ghostly apparition, a phantom. [from 17th c.].

More Meanings

1. (figuratively) A threatening mental image; an unpleasant prospect [from 18th c.]
2. (entomology) Any of certain species of dragonfly of the genus Boyeria, family Aeshnidae. [from 20th c.]

Example Sentences

A specter haunted the cemetery at the old Vasquez manor.

Already, the specter of higher interest rates was causing the housing market to seize up.

A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this specter: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.

Thailand's Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin for appointing to his cabinet a former lawyer who served jail time, raising the spectre of more political upheaval and a reset of the governing alliance.

Word Forms

• specters
• spectre

Synonyms for specter

Depending on context, synonyms include wraith, spook, phantom, apparition, spectre, ghost.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include phantom, spectre, spook, ghost, wraith, apparition.

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