ghost town

noun

: a once-flourishing town wholly or nearly deserted usually as a result of the exhaustion of some natural resource

Examples of ghost town in a Sentence

After all the gold was mined, the place became a ghost town.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
That’s what happened in the living ghost town of Randsburg and nearby Johannesburg, with populations of 35 and 113, respectively, according to the 2020 U.S. census. Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2024 That decline is most visible through the emergence of scores of ghost towns and villages — locations with none or virtually nil inhabitants, deserted as local populations leave or die out. Karen Gilchrist, CNBC, 11 Dec. 2024 Nearly 3,000 villages in Spain could turn into ghost towns and 896 villages in Japan are estimated to disappear by 2040, as younger populations migrate to cities. Eliot Stein, Rolling Stone, 9 Dec. 2024 An agent described his recent visit to a major LA studio lot to walking through a ghost town. Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 5 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for ghost town 

Word History

First Known Use

1894, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of ghost town was in 1894

Dictionary Entries Near ghost town

Cite this Entry

“Ghost town.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ghost%20town. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

ghost town

noun
: a town deserted because some natural resource has been used up

More from Merriam-Webster on ghost town

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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