ghost

1 of 2

noun

plural ghosts
1
: the seat of life or intelligence : soul
give up the ghost
2
: 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
3
4
a
: a faint shadowy trace
a ghost of a smile
b
: the least bit
not a ghost of a chance
5
: a false image in a photographic negative or on a television screen caused especially by reflection
6
: one who ghostwrites
7
: a red blood cell that has lost its hemoglobin
ghostlike adjective
ghosty adjective

ghost

2 of 2

verb

ghosted; ghosting; ghosts

transitive verb

1
: to haunt like a ghost
2
: ghostwrite
ghosted the mayor's autobiography
3
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

1
a
: to move silently like a ghost
b
: to sail quietly in light winds
2

Examples of ghost in a Sentence

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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
The reporter who had ghost written Gibson’s column the previous year, was unavailable. Merlisa Lawrence Corbett, Forbes.com, 23 Aug. 2025 The ghost wielders have even resorted to submitting homework through the use of AI—anything to try to keep from getting dropped from a class. Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 23 Aug. 2025
Verb
Bosses fed up with candidate ghosting and combing through thousands of applications may have a new assistant for the gruelling selection process: using AI to interview the applicants. Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 22 Aug. 2025 Season 1 followed Diarra (Diarra Kilpatrick), a divorcing schoolteacher who refuses to believe she’s been ghosted by her rebound Tinder date. Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 11 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for ghost

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

Middle English gost, gast, from Old English gāst; akin to Old High German geist spirit, Sanskrit heḍa anger

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

circa 1616, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of ghost was before the 12th century

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Ghost.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ghost. Accessed 31 Aug. 2025.

Kids Definition

ghost

1 of 2 noun
ˈgōst
: the soul of a dead person thought of as living in an unseen world or as appearing to living people

ghost

2 of 2 verb
ghosted; ghosting
1
: to haunt like a ghost
2
3
informal : to cut off contact with (someone) abruptly and usually without explanation

Medical Definition

ghost

noun
: a structure (as a cell or tissue) that does not stain normally because of degenerative changes
specifically : a red blood cell that has lost its hemoglobin

More from Merriam-Webster on ghost

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!