Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense ghosts, present participle ghosting, past tense, past participle ghosted
1. countable noun
A ghost is the spirit of a dead person that someone believes they can see or feel.
...the ghost of Marie Antoinette. [+ of]
The village is haunted by the ghosts of the dead children. [+ of]
Synonyms: spirit, soul, phantom, spectre More Synonyms of ghost
2. countable noun
The ghost of something, especially of something bad that has happened, is the memory of it.
The Rams have finally laid the ghost of seasons past to rest.
...the ghost of anti-Americanism. [+ of]
3. singular noun
If there is a ghost of something, that thing is so faint or weak that it hardly exists.
He gave the ghost of a smile. [+ of]
The sun was warm and there was just a ghost of a breeze from the north-west. [+ of]
Synonyms: trace, shadow, suggestion, hint More Synonyms of ghost
4. verb
If a book or other piece of writing is ghosted, it is written by a writer for another person, for example a politician or sportsman, who then publishes it as his or her own work.
I published his autobiography, which was very competently ghosted by a woman journalistfrom the Daily Mail. [beVERB-ed]
I ghosted his weekly rugby column for the Telegraph. [VERB noun]
5.
See a ghost of a chance
6.
See to give up the ghost
ghost in British English
(ɡəʊst)
noun
1.
the disembodied spirit of a dead person, supposed to haunt the living as a pale or shadowy vision; phantom
▶ Related adjective: spectral
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
a.
a faint secondary image produced by an optical system
b.
a similar image on a television screen, formed by reflection of the transmitting waves or by a defect in the receiver
6. ghost word
7. Also called: ghost edition
an entry recorded in a bibliography of which no actual proof exists
8.
another name for ghostwriter
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. give up the ghost
verb
11. another word for ghostwrite
12. (transitive)
to haunt
13. (intransitive)
to move effortlessly and smoothly, esp unnoticed
he ghosted into the penalty area
14. (transitive) informal
to end a romantic relationship with (a person) by not responding to his or her attempts to communicate
Derived forms
ghostlike (ˈghostˌlike)
adjective
Word origin
Old English gāst; related to Old Frisian jēst, Old High German geist spirit, Sanskrit hēda fury, anger
ghost in American English
(goʊst)
noun
1.
the spirit or soul: now only in give up the ghost (to die) and in Holy Ghost
2. Folklore
a dead person's disembodied spirit, esp. when thought of as appearing to the living as a pale, shadowy apparition
3.
a haunting memory
4.
a.
a faint, shadowy semblance; inkling
b.
a slight trace
not a ghost of a chance
5. US, Informal
ghostwriter
6. Optics and Television
an unwanted secondary image
verb intransitive
7. US
to work as a ghostwriter
verb transitive
8.
to haunt
9. US
to be the ghostwriter of
Derived forms
ghostlike (ˈghostˌlike)
adjective
Word origin
altered (prob. after Fl gheest) < ME goste < OE gast, soul, spirit, demon, akin to Ger geist < IE base *gheizd-, to be excited, frightened > Sans hēḋ-, to be angry
More idioms containing
ghost
lay the ghost of something
give up the ghost
Examples of 'ghost' in a sentence
ghost
We came here to a ghost town and have continued the fight to bring security here.
The Sun (2011)
The smart money must surely be on the consumer giving up the ghost in the end.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
They just disappear like ghosts into the hotels until it is time to go home.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
But industrial output has declined so much that industrial areas are ghost towns.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The whole hospital feels like a ghost ship.
The Sun (2011)
He is bruised and subdued by the ghosts still haunting him.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The fact is that most ghosted sports books miss the point of their own tale.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
To get to the final is enough to lay the ghost of those vanished glories.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
But ghosts and things that go bump in the night leave them absolutely terrified.
The Sun (2006)
This whole place has become like a ghost town.
The Sun (2008)
Now it is just an old ghost.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
It feels like the ghost of a seaside resort.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Some villages have become ghost towns.
Christianity Today (2000)
Images of Victorian ghosts in stripy bathing costumes suddenly abound.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The demons of one striker, the ghost of another and a third fretting in the shadows.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
These ghosts haunt our cultures, but they no longer represent who we are.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
It's really creepy to think my friend was just heading towards the area where the ghost was.
The Sun (2015)
A ghosted autobiography requires a deep bond between sportsman and journalist.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
I began to work on his ghosted columns too.
Duncan Hamilton Provided You Don't Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough (2007)
I gave him money towards it, which he acknowledged with a nod and a ghost of a smile.
Hyland, Paul Indian Balm - Travels in the Southern Subcontinent (1994)
So at least Tobacco Dock has the ghost of a chance for a new lease of life.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
You can get a ghost image of the picture on it,' he says.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Quotations
Ghost stories appeal to our craving for immortality. If you can be afraid of a ghost, then you have to believe that a ghost may exist. And if a ghost existsthen oblivion might not be the endStanley Kubrick
Even the living were only ghosts in the makingPat BarkerThe Ghost Road
In other languages
ghost
British English: ghost /ɡəʊst/ NOUN
A ghost is the spirit of a dead person that someone believes they can see or feel.
Do you believe in ghosts?
American English: ghost
Arabic: شَبَح
Brazilian Portuguese: fantasma
Chinese: 鬼
Croatian: duh
Czech: duch
Danish: spøgelse
Dutch: spook
European Spanish: fantasma
Finnish: kummitus
French: fantôme
German: Geist
Greek: φάντασμα
Italian: fantasma
Japanese: 幽霊
Korean: 유령
Norwegian: spøkelse
Polish: duch widmo
European Portuguese: fantasma
Romanian: fantomă
Russian: привидение
Latin American Spanish: fantasma
Swedish: spöke
Thai: ผี
Turkish: hayalet
Ukrainian: привид
Vietnamese: ma
All related terms of 'ghost'
ghost car
an unmarked police car
ghost gum
a eucalyptus tree with white trunk and branches
ghost crab
a whitish crab , Ocypode albicans , of sandy beaches from the eastern coast of the U.S. to Brazil
ghost dance
a religious dance of certain Native American tribes , connected with a political movement (from about 1888) that looked to reunion with the dead and a return to an idealized state of affairs before Europeans came
ghost image
the disembodied spirit of a dead person, supposed to haunt the living as a pale or shadowy vision ; phantom
ghost moth
any of various large pale moths of the family Hepialidae that are active at dusk
ghost story
A ghost story is a story about ghosts.
ghost town
A ghost town is a town which used to be busy and wealthy but is now poor and deserted.
ghost train
a small train at an amusement park that travels through a dark tunnel in which sounds, lights, and mechanized objects are used to scare the people in the train
ghost word
a word that has entered the language through the perpetuation, in dictionaries , etc, of an error
ghost-write
If a book or other piece of writing is ghost-written , it is written by a writer for another person, for example a politician or sportsman , who then publishes it as his or her own work.
Holy Ghost
The Holy Ghost is the same as the → Holy Spirit .
ghost edition
the disembodied spirit of a dead person, supposed to haunt the living as a pale or shadowy vision ; phantom
ghost estate
(esp in Ireland) a housing estate built during an economic boom but unfinished or unoccupied during a recession
ghost fishing
the continued trapping and killing of marine life by a discarded fishing net floating at sea
ghost pepper
an exceptionally hot hybrid chilli pepper cultivated in N India
ghost writer
A ghost writer is someone who writes a book or other published work instead of the person who is named as the author.
bacterial ghost
a bacterial cell that is emptied and filled artificially with another substance
ghost prisoner
a prisoner, esp one held in US military captivity , whose detention is not publicly acknowledged
give up the ghost
to stop trying to do something, because you no longer believe that you can succeed
a ghost of a chance
If someone does not stand or does not have a ghost of a chance of doing something, they have very little chance of succeeding in it.
to give up the ghost
If someone gives up the ghost , they stop trying to do something because they no longer believe they can do it successfully. If a machine gives up the ghost , it stops working .
lay the ghost of something
to do something which stops you being upset or affected by something bad in your past
white as a sheet as white as a sheet
If someone looks white as a sheet or as white as a sheet , they look very frightened , shocked , or ill .
jumbie
a ghost
jumby
a ghost
Chinese translation of 'ghost'
ghost
(ɡəust)
n(c)
(= spirit) 鬼神 (guǐshén) (种(種), zhǒng)
vt
为(為) ... 捉刀 (wèi ... zhuōdāo)
to give up the ghost (person) 绝(絕)望 (juéwàng) (machine) 停止运(運)转(轉) (tíngzhǐ yùnzhuǎn)
the ghost of a chance (of doing sth)只有很少机(機)会(會)(做某事) (zhǐyǒu hěn shǎo jīhuì (zuò mǒushì))
1 (noun)
Definition
the disembodied spirit of a dead person, supposed to haunt the living
The village is said to be haunted by ghosts.
Synonyms
spirit
Do you believe in the existence of evil spirits?
soul
Such memories stirred in his soul.
phantom
Many people claimed to have seen the phantom.
spectre
His spectre is said to walk the castle battlements.
spook (informal)
She woke up to see a spook hovering over her bed.
manes
apparition
She recognized one of the women as the apparition she had seen.
wraith
She believed herself to have been visited by wraiths from the afterlife.
shade (literary)
His writing benefits from the shade of Lincoln hovering over his shoulder.
revenant
phantasm
eidolon
atua (New Zealand)
kehua (New Zealand)
wairua (New Zealand)
2 (noun)
Definition
a faint trace
He gave the ghost of a smile.
Synonyms
trace
Wash them in cold water to remove all traces of sand.
shadow
The faintest shadow of a frown creased that angelic face.
suggestion
that fashionably faint suggestion of a tan
hint
I glanced at her and saw no hint of irony on her face.
suspicion
large blooms of white with a suspicion of pale pink
glimmer
Our last glimmer of hope faded.
semblance
related words
related adjectivespectral
related phobiaphasmophobia
Quotations
Ghost stories appeal to our craving for immortality. If you can be afraid of a ghost, then you have to believe that a ghost may exist. And if a ghost exists then oblivion might not be the end [Stanley Kubrick]Even the living were only ghosts in the making [Pat Barker – The Ghost Road]
Additional synonyms
in the sense of apparition
Definition
a ghost or ghostlike figure
She recognized one of the women as the apparition she had seen.
Synonyms
ghost,
spirit,
shade (literary),
phantom,
spectre,
spook (informal),
wraith,
chimera,
revenant,
visitant,
eidolon,
atua (New Zealand),
kehua (New Zealand)
in the sense of glimmer
Definition
a faint indication
Our last glimmer of hope faded.
Synonyms
trace,
ray,
suggestion,
hint,
grain,
gleam,
flicker,
inkling
in the sense of hint
Definition
a small amount
I glanced at her and saw no hint of irony on her face.