as in demon
an evil spirit
in Arabic folklore, ghouls could change their shapes but had one unchanging feature: donkey's hooves for feet
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ghoul
There are a lot of stock viewer-goosings: Screaming ghoul faces, crawling insects, waking nightmares and other jump scares, including the sonic kind of sudden loud noises or silences.
—
Dennis Harvey, Variety, 6 Aug. 2025
Even with a more intimidating ghoul, like the Creeper, Scooby-Doo is clever enough to get a kid through it.
—Vulture Editors, Vulture, 23 July 2025
The mushroom’s healing properties also lead to hallucinations, often involving mysterious white imps, who should be adorable and instead come across as menacing little ghouls.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 18 June 2025
The manor’s ghouls and shambling zombies don’t feel any less threatening when contained within the tiny square portraits of a card.
—The New York Times, New York Times, 30 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for ghoul
Dennis Harvey, Variety, 6 Aug. 2025
Even with a more intimidating ghoul, like the Creeper, Scooby-Doo is clever enough to get a kid through it.
—Vulture Editors, Vulture, 23 July 2025
The mushroom’s healing properties also lead to hallucinations, often involving mysterious white imps, who should be adorable and instead come across as menacing little ghouls.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 18 June 2025
The manor’s ghouls and shambling zombies don’t feel any less threatening when contained within the tiny square portraits of a card.
—The New York Times, New York Times, 30 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for ghoul
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ghoul
Noun
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As the dynasty outsider, Henry (Boszhardt) must battle his ruthless stepmother (Gershon), who is under the influence of a demon that feeds on greed.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
24 Sep. 2025
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Kang drew inspiration from gut, traditional Korean folk dancers who performed rituals to protect communities from demons and evil spirits.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
20 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Ezra is a doula who can see ghosts, and Jonathan is a widower mourning his late husband, Ben, who Ezra can inexplicably both see and hear, even though that definitely breaks ghost rules.—
Audrey Goldberg Ruoff,
PEOPLE,
27 Sep. 2025
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But why did skeletons, witches and ghosts start popping up as fireworks faded away?—
George Petras,
USA Today,
27 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Lord Vampyre’s Very Important Monsters Costume Party — Compete in a costume contest hosted by the Lego vampire.—
Brady MacDonald,
Oc Register,
19 Sep. 2025
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On the plus side, no vampires were detected in the baby cohort.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
19 Sep. 2025
Noun
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If his dad is his guardian angel, looks like Dexter now has a devil on his shoulder, too.—
Nick Caruso,
TVLine,
5 Sep. 2025
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There is a background pattern on those stripes that depicts a devil, for some reason, but otherwise this is simple, effective and identifiably Milan.—
Nick Miller,
New York Times,
24 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ghoul.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ghoul. Accessed 30 Sep. 2025.
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