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

Chicago’s predominantly Latino community Little Village sees massive drop in foot traffic as Trump cracks down on immigration Fears over possible ICE raids have heightened across the U.S., causing one of Chicago’s largest Mexican-American communities to turn into a ghost town. —Bonny Chu, Fox News, 22 Jan. 2025

The 23-year-old ballet teacher and server described a ghost town of a city sprinkled with excited children seeing snow for the first time, making snowmen and walking in the middle of roads untouched by cars. —John Bacon, USA TODAY, 22 Jan. 2025

The ghost town's buildings fell apart and became a hot spot for graffiti. —Shelby Slade, The Arizona Republic, 23 Dec. 2024

Juárez lies in the heart of the desert, and on the surface, much of it resembles a lonely ghost town. —John Hopewell, Variety, 3 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1894, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for ghost town

• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown
• godown
• hometown

Kids Definition

ghost town

noun

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