as in haunting
of, relating to, or suggestive of a ghost
They spotted a spectral figure in the window of the old abandoned house.
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Recent Examples of spectral
The installation puts people inside that spectral array of color to capture the essence of those sunrises and sunsets.
—
Niyaz Pirani, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2026
Whatever the full truth of either description (anyone paying attention that November a few years ago soon realized only Wall Street cheered his comeback), I’d argue Altman at this point in his pop-culture evolution has transcended both those designations and any spectral stops in between.
—Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 9 Apr. 2026
What starts as a spectral curiosity becomes a terrifying and growing presence with an insatiable hunger that begins to consume her life.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 9 Apr. 2026
Twenty years ago, critic Mark Fisher described Burial’s Untrue as a kind of sonic hauntology, a montage of fractured breakbeats, spectral vocal fragments, and crackle collapsing past and future into a single, diffuse texture.
—Keegan Brady, Rolling Stone, 25 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for spectral
Niyaz Pirani, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2026
Whatever the full truth of either description (anyone paying attention that November a few years ago soon realized only Wall Street cheered his comeback), I’d argue Altman at this point in his pop-culture evolution has transcended both those designations and any spectral stops in between.
—Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 9 Apr. 2026
What starts as a spectral curiosity becomes a terrifying and growing presence with an insatiable hunger that begins to consume her life.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 9 Apr. 2026
Twenty years ago, critic Mark Fisher described Burial’s Untrue as a kind of sonic hauntology, a montage of fractured breakbeats, spectral vocal fragments, and crackle collapsing past and future into a single, diffuse texture.
—Keegan Brady, Rolling Stone, 25 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for spectral
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spectral
Adjective
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Within this reality, her determination and imagination becomes an act of resistance, culminating in a haunting fusion of viewer and cinema that reveals how deeply art can transform a young life.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
7 May 2026
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Individuals born with Pluto in Pisces will likely possess a haunting emotional depth and profound level of sensitivity.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
7 May 2026
Adjective
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On Sunday night, an eerie orange glow lit up the sky near the fire zone as crews battled the flames.—
Sergio Candido,
CBS News,
11 May 2026
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Both events promise unforgettable views of the sun's corona, plunging daytime into an eerie twilight.—
Jamie Carter,
Space.com,
10 May 2026
Adjective
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On Saturday, Kripke acknowledged the creepy parallel, sharing a side-by-side of the statues on his Instagram.—
Glenn Garner,
Deadline,
9 May 2026
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The company’s parks division continues to print money (partly by squeezing creepy Disney adults who are going into debt to finance their addiction to Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage).—
James Hibberd,
HollywoodReporter,
8 May 2026
Adjective
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Why phantom income matters Phantom income can create a mismatch between your company’s (or your household’s) tax liability versus its cash flow.—
byDoug Ashburn,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
8 May 2026
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Per 9News, the phantom warrant seems to trace back to a data entry error in a warrant issued out of Gilpin County, Colorado.—
Joe Wilkins,
Futurism,
29 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Bryce Dallas Howard is getting ghostly.—
Aaron Couch,
HollywoodReporter,
29 Apr. 2026
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Sadie Benning and Michael Almereyda have found ghostly, evocative textures using Pixelvision, a Fisher-Price toy camera from the late 1980s.—
Dennis Lim,
The New York Review of Books,
25 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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But Fredrik Berselius’s cooking is too weird and wild to fit the bounds of one creed.—
Ligaya Mishan,
New York Times,
11 May 2026
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Although studying weird worlds such as L 98-59 d will probably help to clarify how planets evolve, researchers are still working to understand this particular one.—
K. R. Callaway,
Scientific American,
11 May 2026
Adjective
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Also in 2019, the Eternally Yours script helped Port and Wiseman land the job of adapting the UK series Ghosts, another single-camera supernatural comedy for CBS.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
1 May 2026
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The romancer, which bowed in SXSW, follows Julia (Hawke), a frustrated video game designer, and Charlie (Pullman), a struggling musician, having supernatural impacts on the world after attending a couples therapy seminar to repair their volatile relationship.—
Etan Vlessing,
HollywoodReporter,
1 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Spectral.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spectral. Accessed 14 May. 2026.
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