ghost story

Definition of ghost story

1 : a story about ghosts

2 : a tale based on imagination rather than fact

Examples of ghost story in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Centuries later, those beliefs have become woven into our modern day celebration of Halloween and the spirit-world ghost stories around the holiday that abound to this day. — Annie Gentile, courant.com, "Ghost Stories Live On In Historic Home," 31 Oct. 2019 Carbon Monoxide Poisoning On a Halloween episode of This American Life, host Ira Glass and toxicologist Albert Donnay unearth an old ghost story published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology in 1921. — Andrea Michelson, Smithsonian, "Five Scientific Explanations for Spooky Sensations," 30 Oct. 2019 Discover why owls are a witch’s best friend and how ghost stories got started. — Robert Gant, Anchorage Daily News, "Celebrate Halloween all week with spooky and silly community events," 25 Oct. 2019 During one of their discussions, Byron suggested that each member of the restless group write a ghost story to share. — Ashley Strickland, CNN, "Why a volcanic eruption caused a 'year without a summer' in 1816," 17 Sep. 2019 Lord Byron challenges his houseguests to write a ghost story, which leads Mary Shelley to begin her novel ``Frankenstein.’' (PG-13) 2 hrs. — Los Angeles Times, "Movies on TV this week Sept. 15, 2019: ‘Alien,’ ‘Aliens’ and more," 13 Sep. 2019 The audience is drawn in, via trailers and other promo materials, with the promise of a ghost story that visually recalls popular J-horror works such as Ringu and Ju-on. — Nina Li Coomes, The Atlantic, "The Uneven Historical Horror of The Terror: Infamy," 2 Sep. 2019 Lord Byron challenges his houseguests to write a ghost story, which leads Mary Shelley to begin her novel ``Frankenstein.’' (PG-13) 2 hrs. — Los Angeles Times, "Movies on TV this week Sept. 15, 2019: ‘Alien,’ ‘Aliens’ and more," 13 Sep. 2019 The series about a group of kids — dubbed The Midnight Society — who sit around a campfire and tell ghost stories ended in 2000, so why decide to reboot it now? — Stacey Grant, Seventeen, "Are You Afraid of the Dark?," 13 Sep. 2019

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

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Last Updated

14 Nov 2019

Time Traveler for ghost story

The first known use of ghost story was in 1819

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