ghost

1 of 2

noun

ˈgōst

plural ghosts

: the seat of life or intelligence : soul

give up the ghost

: 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

: spirit, demon

: a faint shadowy trace

a ghost of a smile

: the least bit

not a ghost of a chance

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

: one who ghostwrites

: 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

: to haunt like a ghost

: ghostwrite

ghosted the mayor's autobiography

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

: to move silently like a ghost

: to sail quietly in light winds

: ghostwrite

Example Sentences

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

Ilonka soon joins the Midnight Club, a gathering of the teens at Brightcliffe who share ghost stories — each one an adaptation of a different Pike horror novel — and look for signs of life beyond death.

Nick Romano, EW.com, 2 Dec. 2022 After all, all three films are, in their own way, ghost stories.

Brandon Wilson, Chron, 1 Dec. 2022 While the appetite for stories about humanity persists, so too will an audience for ghost stories.

Laura Zornosa, Time, 18 Nov. 2022 While ghost stories and local hauntings are gracing many articles, Valley 101 has a different kind of story to tell.

Kaely Monahan, The Arizona Republic, 1 Nov. 2022 One of the most popular ghost stories of Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where the royal family traditionally spend the summer months, is of John Brown.

Stephanie Petit, Peoplemag, 31 Oct. 2022 Different ethnic groups immigrating to America brought their own traditions and, over time, things such as the telling of ghost stories and playing pranks became part of the holiday.

Leada Gore | Lgore@al.com, al, 31 Oct. 2022 People began to celebrate the harvest, swap ghost stories and even tell each other's fortunes, likely a holdover from their countries of origin.

Lizz Schumer, Good Housekeeping, 28 Oct. 2022 The best ghost stories are always short, as anyone who enjoys hearing them around a campfire or at a sleepover will tell you.

Liz Braswell, WSJ, 28 Oct. 2022

Verb

The wings were to ghost peppers what Little League is to MLB.

Tim Carman, Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2022 Applicants have more bargaining power than ever before and are turning the tables on hiring teams by being the first to ghost a company if the recruitment experience doesn’t deliver.

Patrick Donegan, Forbes, 17 Aug. 2022 If not, don't be shocked if fans decide to ghost this franchise.

Brendan Morrow, The Week, 9 Aug. 2022 The path of least resistance is to ghost the applicant and not say or write anything at all.

Jack Kelly, Forbes, 28 June 2022 But mostly, contractors who ghost are just up to their eyeballs in a remodeling moment that is virtually unprecedented.

Ingrid Abramovitch, ELLE Decor, 4 Aug. 2022 In season 3, Min finally gets to play a living character who interacts with the people around him — as opposed to ghost Ben, who could really only talk to his medium brother Klaus (Robert Sheehan).

Christian Holub, EW.com, 13 May 2022 Hopefully, the aliens don't ghost us this time around.

Ariana Garcia, Chron, 6 May 2022 These friends, finally, were wrong to ghost you instead of having the courage to approach your wife, kindly and discreetly.

Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ghost.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.