How to Use spectral in a Sentence

spectral

adjective
  • Half the lights in the room had failed, lending it a spectral gloom.
    Nicolas Niarchos, Time, 30 Jan. 2020
  • But the spectral threat in the bathroom did not stop there.
    J.y. Chua, The Atlantic, 2 June 2017
  • And then there’s the spectral presence of Howard’s wife, Pearl.
    David Fear, Rolling Stone, 18 Mar. 2022
  • But to most of Mr. Biden’s aides, Hunter Biden has been a spectral presence.
    Jonathan Martin, New York Times, 5 Oct. 2019
  • The spectral information was used to estimate the age and the size of the stars.
    John Timmer, Ars Technica, 4 Jan. 2018
  • Basquiat’s presence in the film is more spectral as a result.
    New York Times, 30 Apr. 2018
  • By the time a blurry spectral figure appears, the gang is geared up and ready for a fight.
    Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 8 Nov. 2023
  • Over the next six weeks, Kate’s a light, almost spectral presence in the apartment.
    Fernanda Eberstadt, Vogue, 30 July 2018
  • Here along the Volga, war and death felt like spectral presences.
    Elettra Pauletto, Harper's Magazine, 11 Dec. 2023
  • As our eyes adjusted to the darkness, a spectral face came into view on one of the walls.
    David Brown, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Dec. 2022
  • The victims of mass shootings in schools leave behind a spectral trail.
    Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker, 28 Nov. 2023
  • The first two episodes do a nice job taunting us with the spectral Lucy while lining up the human suspects.
    Tom Gliatto, PEOPLE.com, 9 Oct. 2019
  • But that spectral cameo has confused scholars for a long time.
    National Geographic, 16 July 2019
  • From this spectral change and the time difference, your brain perceives the location of the sound source.
    Qi “peter” Li, IEEE Spectrum, 10 Sep. 2022
  • Sarah and Matthew’s adult daughter, Leda, lingers like a spectral figure over the book.
    Danya Kukafka, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2020
  • The clouds closest to the black hole swirl around it at high speed, which shifts the frequencies via the Doppler effect and smears out each spectral peak.
    Daniel Clery, Science | AAAS, 30 May 2018
  • But when the moon is full their spirits rise for a spectral gathering.
    Kira Garcia, The New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2023
  • Some of us are lucky enough to find friendship in the spectral echoes of divine listening.
    Harmony Holiday, Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug. 2023
  • To identify galaxies that have a small AGN, the team looked for spectral peaks that were sharp at the top but smeared out around the base.
    Daniel Clery, Science | AAAS, 30 May 2018
  • In stark contrast to the scene above is René’s unadorned account of the late Mrs. Golden, the spectral presence in the novel.
    Nina Martyris, Slate Magazine, 21 Sep. 2017
  • Consider adding a spectral spin to your road trip with a stop at Witch Creek Winery, just one block off the beach.
    Rachel Schnalzer, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2022
  • The movie is shot from the perspective of the spectral entity at its center.
    Brent Lang, Variety, 12 Jan. 2024
  • Now go get a laser and some spectral glasses and start exploring.
    Rhett Allain, WIRED, 27 Sep. 2011
  • As a graph gets more connected, its spectral gap will tend to get bigger.
    Quanta Magazine, 2 June 2022
  • Cecilia would select spectral plates to look at and take them to her office, but not by hand.
    Lucy Evans, Scientific American, 22 June 2023
  • Look at the spectral muscles that used to be firm and perky and really powerful.
    Sandra Rose Salathe, Peoplemag, 6 Oct. 2023
  • The two fags in question are Capote and Gore Vidal (unseen and unheard, a spectral figure all around).
    Manuel Betancourt, Vulture, 28 Feb. 2024
  • And with petit fours and a pink fan by her side, Grimes certainly looked ready for any spectral function.
    Rachel Hahn, Vogue, 26 Oct. 2017
  • Ghost Sims who build special connections with each other can also pair up for a special, spectral Woohoo inside objects of all shapes and sizes.
    Jennifer Maas, Variety, 3 Oct. 2024
  • For once, the entity piercing through The View's airspace was not a phantom noise, a doomed gnat, an unknown spectral entity, or Joy Behar's cell phone, but rather the thrusting pelvis of a ripped stripper.
    Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 4 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'spectral.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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