Definition of 'ghost'
Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular present tense ghosts
, present participle ghosting
, past tense, past participle ghosted
2. countable noun
3. singular noun
4. verb
If a book or other piece of writing is ghosted, it is written by a writer for another person, for example a politician or sportsman, who then publishes it as his or her own work.
I published his autobiography, which was very competently ghosted by a woman journalist
from the Daily Mail. [be VERB-ed]
5. verb
If someone ghosts you, especially after a romantic relationship, they stop all contact with you without
any explanation.
[informal] He stopped returning her calls and effectively ghosted her.
Respondents aged 18–29 were more likely to have been ghosted than any other age group.
ghosting uncountable noun
Of all the ways to end a relationship, ghosting tends to leave the deepest scars.
6.
7.
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Video: pronunciation of
ghost
British English pronunciation
American English pronunciation
Word Frequency
ghost in British English
noun
1.
the disembodied spirit of a dead person, supposed to haunt the living as a pale or shadowy vision; phantom
▶ Related adjective: spectral5. physics
b.
a similar image on a television screen, formed by reflection of the transmitting waves or by a defect in the receiver
6. See ghost word
8.
another name for ghostwriter
9. (modifier)
falsely recorded as doing a particular job or fulfilling a particular function in
order that some benefit, esp money, may be obtained
a ghost worker
10. See give up the ghost
verb
11. another word for ghostwrite
12. (transitive)
to haunt
13. (intransitive)
to move effortlessly and smoothly, esp unnoticed
he ghosted into the penalty area
14. (transitive) informal
to end a romantic relationship with (a person) by not responding to his or her attempts to communicate
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Derived forms
ghostlike (ˈghostˌlike) adjective
Word origin
Old English gāst; related to Old Frisian jēst, Old High German geist spirit, Sanskrit hēda fury, anger
Word Frequency
ghost in American English
noun
1.
the spirit or soul: now only in give up the ghost (to die) and in Holy Ghost
2. Folklore
a dead person's disembodied spirit, esp. when thought of as appearing to the living
as a pale, shadowy apparition
3.
a haunting memory
verb intransitive
7. US
to work as a ghostwriter
verb transitive
8.
to haunt
9. US
to be the ghostwriter of
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Derived forms
ghostlike (ˈghostˌlike)
adjective
Word origin
altered (prob. after Fl gheest) < ME goste < OE gast, soul, spirit, demon, akin to Ger geist < IE base *gheizd-, to be excited, frightened > Sans hēḋ-, to be angry
Word Frequency
ghost in American English
(ɡoust)
noun
1.
5.
the principle of life; soul; spirit
7.
8. Also called: ghost image Photography
a faint secondary or out-of-focus image in a photographic print or negative resulting from reflections within the camera lens
9.
10. Optics
11. Engineering (in metalworking)
a streak appearing on a freshly machined piece of steel containing impurities
12.
a red blood cell having no hemoglobin
13.
a fictitious employee, business, etc., fabricated esp. for the purpose of manipulating funds or avoiding taxes
Investigation showed a payroll full of ghosts
transitive verb
15.
to ghostwrite (a book, speech, etc.)
16.
to haunt
intransitive verb
18.
to ghostwrite
19.
to go about or move like a ghost
21.
to pay people for work not performed, esp. as a way of manipulating funds
adjective
SYNONYMS 1. apparition, phantom, phantasm, wraith, revenant; shade, spook. ghost, specter, spirit all refer to the disembodied soul of a person. A ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person, which appears or otherwise makes its
presence known to the living: the ghost of a drowned child. A specter is a ghost or apparition of more or less weird, unearthly, or terrifying aspect:
a frightening specter. spirit is often interchangeable with ghost but may mean a supernatural being, usually with an indication of good or malign intent
toward human beings: the spirit of a friend; an evil spirit. Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Derived forms
ghostily adverb
ghostlike
adjective
Word origin
[bef. 900; ME goost (n.), OE gāst; c. G Geist spirit]Examples of 'ghost' in a sentence
ghost
These examples have been automatically selected and may contain sensitive content that does not reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company HarperCollins.
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Quotations
Ghost stories appeal to our craving for immortality. If you can be afraid of a ghost, then you have to believe that a ghost may exist. And if a ghost exists
then oblivion might not be the end
Even the living were only ghosts in the makingThe Ghost Road
Trends of
ghost
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In other languages
ghost
British English: ghost
/ɡəʊst/ NOUN
A ghost is the spirit of a dead person that someone believes they can see or feel.
Do you believe in ghosts?
- American English: ghost /ˈgoʊst/
- Arabic: شَبَح
- Brazilian Portuguese: fantasma
- Chinese: 鬼
- Croatian: duh
- Czech: duch
- Danish: spøgelse
- Dutch: spook
- European Spanish: fantasma
- Finnish: kummitus
- French: fantôme
- German: Geist
- Greek: φάντασμα
- Italian: fantasma
- Japanese: 幽霊
- Korean: 유령
- Norwegian: spøkelse
- Polish: duch widmo
- European Portuguese: fantasma
- Romanian: fantomă
- Russian: привидение
- Latin American Spanish: fantasma
- Swedish: spöke
- Thai: ผี
- Turkish: hayalet
- Ukrainian: привид
- Vietnamese: ma
Browse alphabetically
ghost
Related terms of
ghost
Source
Definition of ghost from the Collins English Dictionary
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