ghost

1 of 2

noun

ˈgōst 

plural ghosts

1

: the seat of life or intelligence : soul

give up the ghost

2

: a disembodied soul

especially : the soul of a dead person believed to be an inhabitant of the unseen world or to appear to the living in bodily likeness

3

: spirit, demon

4

a

: a faint shadowy trace

a ghost of a smile

b

: the least bit

not a ghost of a chance

5

: a false image in a photographic negative or on a television screen caused especially by reflection

6

: one who ghostwrites

7

: a red blood cell that has lost its hemoglobin

ghostlike

ˈgōst-ˌlīk 

adjective

ghosty

ˈgō-stē 

adjective

ghost

2 of 2

verb

ghosted; ghosting; ghosts

transitive verb

1

: to haunt like a ghost

2

: ghostwrite

ghosted the mayor's autobiography

3

informal : to cut off all contact with (someone) abruptly and usually without explanation : to subject (someone, such as a former romantic partner) to ghosting see ghosting sense 2

No one wants to be ghosted, mostly because it sucks to admit that the person you gushed about last week is now pretending you don't exist …

—Ellen Scott

intransitive verb

1

a

: to move silently like a ghost

b

: to sail quietly in light winds

2

: ghostwrite

Synonyms

Noun

• apparition
• bogey
• bogie
• bogy
• familiar spirit
• hant [dialect]
• haunt [chiefly dialect]
• materialization
• phantasm
• fantasm
• phantom
• poltergeist
• shade
• shadow
• specter
• spectre
• spirit
• spook
• sprite
• vision
• visitant
• wraith

Examples of ghost in a Sentence

Noun

a house haunted by ghosts

looked for ghosts in the graveyard on Halloween

Verb

She ghosted the mayor's autobiography.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

So the unseen figure of the ghost becomes an expression of the filmmaker’s power over the frame, evoking the sadistic-voyeuristic nature of cinema in general and genre cinema in particular. —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 6 Mar. 2025

And with that, the Woodstone property gained yet another ghost, one who may have just launched the show into its season endgame. —Vlada Gelman, TVLine, 6 Mar. 2025

Verb

The pair debated their relationship post-wedding, not agreeing on who did or did not ghost whom. —Jillian Sederholm, EW.com, 10 Mar. 2025

It is built on a Pre-Cana-esque system of compatibility, and old-school match-testing frameworks do not include detailed questionnaires about the appropriateness of ghosting exes, sliding into DMs, how much online personal disclosure is too much, or the ins and outs of Instagram stalking. —Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

Middle English gost, gast, from Old English gāst; akin to Old High German geist spirit, Sanskrit heḍa anger

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

circa 1616, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing ghost

• ghost chili
• ghost gun
• ghost kitchen
• ghost of a chance
• ghost pepper
• ghost/shadow of one's former self
• ghost story
• ghost town
• ghost word
• give up the ghost

Rhymes for ghost

• boast
• coast
• doest
• dosed
• grossed
• host
• most
• moste
• roast
• toast
• almost
• engrossed

Kids Definition

ghost

1 of 2 noun

ˈgōst

: the soul of a dead person thought of as living in an unseen world or as appearing to living people

ghost

2 of 2 verb

ghosted; ghosting

1

: to haunt like a ghost

2

: ghostwrite

3

informal : to cut off contact with (someone) abruptly and usually without explanation

Medical Definition

ghost

noun

ˈgōst 

: a structure (as a cell or tissue) that does not stain normally because of degenerative changes

specifically : a red blood cell that has lost its hemoglobin