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
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Recent Examples of spectral
In one chilling early scene, the toys peek out Bonnie’s window and see all the houses around them lit up, from within, by the spectral glow of personal digital devices.
—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
19 June 2026
The four-frame Death Comes to the Old Lady, shot the following year, shows a spectral form approaching an elderly woman in a rocking chair and spiriting her away.
—
News Desk,
Artforum,
12 June 2026
Each compound leaves behind a distinct spectral signature.
—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
12 June 2026
His spectral like figure seems to rise from the corpse, approaching the camera’s lens before vanishing.
—
Maximilíano Durón,
ARTnews.com,
11 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for spectral
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
19 June 2026
The four-frame Death Comes to the Old Lady, shot the following year, shows a spectral form approaching an elderly woman in a rocking chair and spiriting her away.
—
News Desk,
Artforum,
12 June 2026
Each compound leaves behind a distinct spectral signature.
—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
12 June 2026
His spectral like figure seems to rise from the corpse, approaching the camera’s lens before vanishing.
—
Maximilíano Durón,
ARTnews.com,
11 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for spectral
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spectral
Adjective
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But what feels most haunting about the arc of then to now, about Smith’s unfathomable issues and woes — yet obvious heart and particularly evident quest to find himself in recent years — is that his words then were spoken with a sense of arrival and past tense.
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One of the movie’s most haunting subplots involves prisoners, who are pulled from labor camps looking half-dead and subsequently folded into Michael Caine‘s soccer team at the Brit’s insistence, but possibly to his squad’s detriment.
Adjective
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Tree made eerie comments about his will just weeks before his death.
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Ahead of his Annecy premiere, Variety spoke with Kadowaki about his technique, a singular blend of 2D animation and rotoscoping underlined the eerie atmosphere of his coming-of-age story.
Adjective
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The cast is rounded out by Coco Jones as Laila’s bestie Jasmine and Langley Kirkwood as the family’s creepy butler.
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That geographic blandness only emphasizes the film’s other shortcomings, such as Schoenaerts’s anonymous work as the villain (a lot of glowering and creepy glares) and the rather rote big-sister/little-sister arc given to Supergirl and Ruthye.
Adjective
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Maddock said the state should see a $2 million increase to the school aid budget and cuts to what Republicans call phantom jobs or phantom employees, positions that are budgeted for but have remained unfilled.
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Other times, a phantom string quartet warmed up.
Adjective
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As Samara Morgan, the lank-haired little girl dressed in white and possessing deadly supernatural powers, at just 12 years old Chase became the ghostly face of the film and its most recognizable character.
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How did the ghostly choir samples of Philly drill pop up in Stockton goon music?
Adjective
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So, that was kind of quite weird.
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But storefronts across the city have long been weird hodgepodges, rife with misspellings and aesthetic incoherence.
Adjective
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An epic with supernatural and epigenetic overtones, this debut novel looks like a feast of a story.
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Paul Dano is set to star opposite Callum Turner and Margaret Qualley in the remake of 1981 supernatural thriller Possession coming together at Paramount, Deadline can confirm.
Cite this Entry
“Spectral.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spectral. Accessed 3 Jul. 2026.
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