specters

noun

variants or spectres
plural of specter
as in apparitions
the soul of a dead person thought of especially as appearing to living people feeling so terrified that every shadow became a specter

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 specters See-through specters haunt the backstage area of the Muppet theater, a Muppet News report warns of man-eating furniture, and Kermit turns the tables on Price during a long talk about acting by sprouting fangs and biting the horror icon’s neck. — Damon Wise, Deadline, 13 June 2026 African diasporic people’s contentious history with these formations of motherhood create specters of separation as reproductive injustice. — Literary Hub, 8 June 2026 Ever the sassy songwriter, Musgraves handles these specters like a pro with witty write-offs. — Maya Georgi, Rolling Stone, 30 Apr. 2026 Skeletal specters emerge as a consequence of tampering with such dark magic, and one launches itself at McAdams' Christine Palmer. — Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Jan. 2026 San Francisco’s iconic fog also contributes to optical effects, like fog bows and brocken spectres, which are rainbows around a viewer’s shadow. — Newsroom Meteorologist, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 Jan. 2026 The Duffers have always worn their influences with pride, and the specters of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King helped jump-start the series into a phenomenon. — Alison Herman, Variety, 27 Nov. 2025 The ground of the cemetery opens up beneath them, and specters rise into the air. — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2025 As Calhoun summarizes, the first part takes up the subject of magic and necromancy, the second treats of witchcraft and sorcery, and the third discourses of all kinds of spirits and specters. — Emily Zarevich, JSTOR Daily, 3 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for specters
  1. apparitions
  2. spirits
  3. ghosts
  4. shadows
  5. phantoms
Noun
  • Today, the massive complex attracts paranormal investigators who report apparitions, voices, and other unexplained phenomena.
    — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 15 June 2026
  • Why then, when discussing body image after weight changes, is our culture reaching for the language of vexing apparitions and death?
    — Virgie Tovar, Forbes.com, 14 June 2026
Definition of apparitions
Noun
  • Further lifting Toohey’s spirits is his former high school roommate Lachlan Olbrich.
    — Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 15 July 2026
  • Space opened up and despite trailing, Argentine spirits were lifted.
    — Aleks Klosok, CNN Money, 15 July 2026
Definition of spirits
Noun
  • The music starts to shift beginning with the third episode, when Lestat becomes overwhelmed by the apparition of his abusive maker and other ghosts, including Claudia, whose killing he’d been forced to witness firsthand.
    — Hannah Giorgis Yohannes, Vanity Fair, 13 July 2026
  • When nighttime falls, the game’s friendly parkgoers turn into zombies and ghosts who chase the park ranger, armed with nothing but a Frisbee deployed by the keyboard’s space bar.
    — Elizabeth Hernandez, Denver Post, 9 July 2026
Definition of ghosts
Noun
  • But out of the shadows emerges a former soldier known only as Berry, who starts building a secret resistance network.
    — Alex Ritman, Variety, 15 July 2026
  • Blume’s unobtrusive handiwork lifts Show Me the Body out of the shadows without sun-bleaching their craggy exterior.
    — Eli Enis, Pitchfork, 15 July 2026
Definition of shadows
Noun
  • Such a designation, evidently, would save agents from wasting time chasing phantoms.
    — Adam Ciralsky, Vanity Fair, 19 Mar. 2026
  • Just in time for Halloween, the sonic phantoms that have long plagued the ladies of The View have seemingly possessed inanimate objects over on the Live With Kelly and Mark set.
    — Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Oct. 2025
Definition of phantoms

Browse Nearby Words

specter
specters
spectra
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Cite this Entry

“Specters.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/specters. Accessed 16 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on specters

Nglish: Translation of specters for Spanish Speakers

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