as in spirits
the soul of a dead person thought of especially as appearing to living people
an eccentric who claimed to have photographed an apparition in her very own house
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of apparitions
As the 14-year-old child of a poor family in 1858, Saint Bernadette experienced numerous apparitions of a young woman in a cave or grotto, seemingly the Virgin Mary, asking for a chapel to be built on the site.
—
Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 21 Feb. 2026
The small museum, which opened last year, covers the creatures, apparitions and mysteries eluding prosaic explanation.
—Adam Kuehl, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2026
Juggling demanding apparitions alongside staff burnout, family pressures and a coworker who seems to know more about her than expected, the series grounds its supernatural premise in the cultural specificity of the Filipino healthcare experience.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 3 Feb. 2026
The image combines each planet's nightly positions during separate 2025 apparitions, assembled by astrophotographer Petr Horálek, a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador.
—Kenna Hughes-Castleberry, Space.com, 9 Jan. 2026
Sam slips back into her addiction and as her alcoholism worsens, so do the visions and apparitions that seem to be haunting the forest.
—Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026
One of the most stunning exhibitions of the year put the spotlight on Our Lady of Guadalupe, which has a long history dating back to 1531, tied to four apparitions of the Virgin Mary to a peasant in Mexico.
—Michael James Rocha, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Dec. 2025
There have been Marian apparitions such as Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal and Our Lady of Lourdes in France, each with its own story and significance in the Catholic identity of its respective region.
—Paula Soria, AZCentral.com, 11 Dec. 2025
In this show the palette shifted from the artist’s familiar Pepto-Bismol pink to slightly more somber shades, of saffron, eggplant, and rose; the colors had a touch of Bob Thompson about them, blocky flat shapes cohering into apparitions.
—Helen Molesworth, Artforum, 1 Dec. 2025
Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 21 Feb. 2026
The small museum, which opened last year, covers the creatures, apparitions and mysteries eluding prosaic explanation.
—Adam Kuehl, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2026
Juggling demanding apparitions alongside staff burnout, family pressures and a coworker who seems to know more about her than expected, the series grounds its supernatural premise in the cultural specificity of the Filipino healthcare experience.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 3 Feb. 2026
The image combines each planet's nightly positions during separate 2025 apparitions, assembled by astrophotographer Petr Horálek, a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador.
—Kenna Hughes-Castleberry, Space.com, 9 Jan. 2026
Sam slips back into her addiction and as her alcoholism worsens, so do the visions and apparitions that seem to be haunting the forest.
—Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026
One of the most stunning exhibitions of the year put the spotlight on Our Lady of Guadalupe, which has a long history dating back to 1531, tied to four apparitions of the Virgin Mary to a peasant in Mexico.
—Michael James Rocha, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Dec. 2025
There have been Marian apparitions such as Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal and Our Lady of Lourdes in France, each with its own story and significance in the Catholic identity of its respective region.
—Paula Soria, AZCentral.com, 11 Dec. 2025
In this show the palette shifted from the artist’s familiar Pepto-Bismol pink to slightly more somber shades, of saffron, eggplant, and rose; the colors had a touch of Bob Thompson about them, blocky flat shapes cohering into apparitions.
—Helen Molesworth, Artforum, 1 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for apparitions
Noun
-
The spirits are all around here.—
Deborah Treisman,
New Yorker,
8 Mar. 2026
-
The day event features a pop-up photo studio with celebrity photographer David Christopher Lee, along with brands across beauty, wellness, home and spirits — and puppies also available for adoption.—
Kirsten Chuba,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The Paramount+ series, which follows a group of ghosts stuck in purgatory inside their high school, uses its premise — characters tethered to different decades — as both a narrative engine and a musical one.—
Kennedy French,
Variety,
5 Mar. 2026
-
This may explain something about ghosts.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
They were hidden in DART’s original photos, but UMD researchers Tony Farnham and Juan Rizos developed techniques to remove shadows and lighting effects.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
8 Mar. 2026
-
Titled ClairObscur, it was dedicated to illuminating forms of character through the exploration of shadows, in part inspired by the dramatic tenebrism of Caravaggio.—
Luke Leitch,
Vogue,
7 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
But there was more blank space to fill in on Issei’s end, with Season 2 swapping out fantasy sequences in Camille’s mind palace for Issei’s visions of black-and-white moonscapes to that effect.—
Alison Herman,
Variety,
11 Mar. 2026
-
Disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance forces him to confront dark corners of his past.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
11 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Apparitions.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apparitions. Accessed 14 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
