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If you see your own double, you're in trouble, at least if you believe old superstitions. The belief that a ghostly twin's appearance portends death is one common to many cultures. In German folklore, such an apparition is called a Doppelgänger (literally, "double goer"); in Scottish lore, they are wraiths. The exact origin of the word wraith is misty, however, and etymologists can only trace it back to the early 16th century—in particular to a 1513 translation of Virgil's Aeneid by Gavin Douglas (the Scotsman used wraith to name apparitions of both the dead and the living). In current English, wraith has taken on additional, less spooky, meanings; it now often suggests a shadowy—but not necessarily scary—lack of substance.
Examples of wraith in a Sentence
Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 30 Apr. 2025
The before-and-after pictures still astound: a skeletal wraith on the left, a rosy-cheeked child on the right.
—IEEE Spectrum, 27 May 2015
Agatha is also being pursued by her ex, Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), a powerful green witch, as well as the Salem Seven, vengeful wraiths of Agatha's first coven.
—Ars Technica, 24 Dec. 2024
Many slide hopelessly back into lives as nearly invisible wraiths, measured in the intervals between fixes — and arrests.
—Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, Orlando Sentinel, 16 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for wraith
Cite this Entry
“Wraith.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wraith. Accessed 9 Jun. 2025.
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