SPECTRAL Synonyms: 135 Similar and Opposite Words

spectral

adjective

Definition of spectral next

as in haunting

of, relating to, or suggestive of a ghost They spotted a spectral figure in the window of the old abandoned house.

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Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of spectral The novel, which jumps around in time from spectral reminiscences of the nineteenth century to the late 1980s and early 1990s and into the twenty-first century, follows the members of a Brooklyn family attempting to find stability while struggling with their strange attunement to the dead. —

Omari Weekes, The New York Review of Books, 19 Mar. 2026 Superior spectral energy resolution, a superior point-spread-function, and high-contrast imaging can help enable all of these, above and beyond Chandra’s current limits. —

Big Think, 11 Mar. 2026 Still, the Kramers have found that a little spectral marketing doesn’t hurt. —

David Caraccio, Sacbee.com, 28 Feb. 2026 Convinced that their ancestors are communicating with them via dream visions, characters wander dark alleyways at night, pursuing spectral figures. —

Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for spectral

Recent Examples of Synonyms for spectral

Adjective

Glimpses came through in the haunting stream of ambulances in empty New York City streets or images of overflowing morgues.

— Fenit Nirappil, Washington Post, 22 Mar. 2026
Jose Antonio Ramos died March 7 at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, prosecutors wrote in a court filing in the case of Pedro Hernandez — the man now facing a third trial in Etan's haunting and infamous case.

— ABC News, ABC News, 19 Mar. 2026