specter

noun spec·ter \ ˈspek-tər \

variants: or spectre

Updated on: 21 May 2018

Definition of specter

1 : a visible disembodied spirit : ghost

2 : something that haunts or perturbs the mind : phantasm

the specter of hunger

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Examples of specter in a Sentence

feeling so terrified that every shadow became a specter

Recent Examples of specter from the Web

Using a political committee, he's raised the specter of the Castros and repressive Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in order to win a seat that pays only $6,000 a year but carries enormous political power.

— david smiley, miamiherald, "How the Castros can still move the needle in Miami elections | Miami Herald," 10 May 2018
Not just as an inspiration for other sitcomic characters, and not just as an occasional appearance on a Netflix screen or a basic-cable station near you, but also as a specter.

— megan garber, The Atlantic, "When Beauty Is a Troll," 22 Apr. 2018
In 2017, Crook, who was already studying the response of the cephalopod nervous system to pain and injury, returned home from one of these workshops determined to set the specter to rest.

— danna staaf, Science | AAAS, "How to put an octopus to sleep—and make cephalopod research more humane," 4 Apr. 2018
The ghostly specter’s real estate holdings, we’re told, include a Chasm of Souls.

— michael phillips, chicagotribune.com, "'Tomb Raider' review: Alicia Vikander is a craftier Croft but vanishes in second half of movie," 14 Mar. 2018
Harvey, who is a free agent at the end of the season, hasn’t been the same since the 2015 World Series, and Lugo has the specter of Tommy John surgery hanging over him.

— james wagner, New York Times, "For a Change, the Mets Like Their Pitching Numbers," 26 Feb. 2018
The overlapping use of psychiatric medications among humans and animals also raises the specter of owners sharing drugs with their pets.

— nathaniel morris, chicagotribune.com, "Does your pooch really need Prozac?," 1 May 2018
In a speech Friday in Boston and in his conversation with STAT, Gates several times raised the specter of the potential for a bioterrorism attack using smallpox.

— helen branswell, STAT, "Bill Gates got President Trump fired up about a universal flu vaccine — and also (maybe) got a job offer," 30 Apr. 2018
The specter of the program's most crushing defeat in Saban's tenure -- the last-second loss to Clemson in the 2017 College Football Playoff title game -- remained while the season opener against Florida State hovered off in the distance.

— rainer sabin, AL.com, "How Alabama coach Nick Saban uses the media to talk to his team," 19 Apr. 2018

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