1
as in spies
a person who tries secretly to obtain information for one country in the territory of another usually unfriendly country
Russia recalled its spooks after the collapse of the Soviet Union
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in spirits
the soul of a dead person thought of especially as appearing to living people
Halloween is the night when spooks and goblins are said to roam abroad
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in scares
to strike with fear
the sudden noise spooked her out of her skin
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of spooks
Bruce Brady, Outdoor Life, 8 Apr. 2026
Anthropic spooks cyber firms; eyes IPO.
—John Kell, Fortune, 1 Apr. 2026
The translation squeaks and spooks with imagery of haunts and death.
—Amber McBride, Literary Hub, 5 Nov. 2025
There are even more spooks in the follow-up season, The Haunting of Bly Manor.
—Kelsie Gibson, PEOPLE, 23 Oct. 2025
Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield are iconic characters that are wonderfully resurrected in this remake, the spooks are top notch, and the whole thing looks, sounds, and plays unbelievably.
—Oliver Brandt, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Aug. 2025
Usa Today, USA Today, 4 Nov. 2025
Noun
Remember that movement spooks turkeys more than anything else.
—Bruce Brady, Outdoor Life, 8 Apr. 2026
Anthropic spooks cyber firms; eyes IPO.
—John Kell, Fortune, 1 Apr. 2026
The translation squeaks and spooks with imagery of haunts and death.
—Amber McBride, Literary Hub, 5 Nov. 2025
There are even more spooks in the follow-up season, The Haunting of Bly Manor.
—Kelsie Gibson, PEOPLE, 23 Oct. 2025
Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield are iconic characters that are wonderfully resurrected in this remake, the spooks are top notch, and the whole thing looks, sounds, and plays unbelievably.
—Oliver Brandt, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Aug. 2025
Verb
That confidence spooks your rivals!
—Usa Today, USA Today, 4 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spooks
Noun
-
The pair, who were arrested in May 2022 while visiting Iran, were accused by Iranian state television of being spies who sought to stir up unrest, according to Reuters.—
Greg Norman-Diamond,
FOXNews.com,
7 Apr. 2026
-
The spies called it right, but the president went another direction.—
Shane Harris,
The Atlantic,
5 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Ancient Mayans later believed cenotes were sacred portals to the underworld, where gods and spirits dwelled.—
Ryan Brennan,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
5 Apr. 2026
-
Ancient Mayans believed cenotes were sacred portals to the underworld, where gods and spirits dwelled.—
Ryan Brennan
April 4,
Miami Herald,
4 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Amid the positives, what scares you the most right now about the industry?—
David Canfield,
HollywoodReporter,
8 Apr. 2026
-
That distinction, between desensitization and normalization, is crucial to how Goldhaber and Mazzei approach scares in the digital age.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
7 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Israel claims to have killed hundreds of Hezbollah operatives in the latest bombardment and ground invasion.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
7 Apr. 2026
-
One of the officials said the March 3 drone strike that hit the tanker was launched by Ukrainian operatives in a military facility in Tripoli.—
Samy Magdy,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Always fact check those ghosts.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Apr. 2026
-
His boldest innovation is to invoke not past glories but past disasters, summoning the ghosts of the United States’ catastrophic interventions in Iraq.—
Fintan O’Toole,
The New York Review of Books,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The piercing sunlight frightens her.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Feb. 2026
-
Like the 1987 Kurt Vonnegut novel from which the restaurant took its name, Bluebeard encourages guests to drop their guard, surround themselves with other people and try something that frightens them a little.—
USA TODAY NETWORK,
USA Today,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Ashwin Sreenivas, president of AI startup Decagon, said the advent of coding agents has led to a number of shifts within his company.—
Ashley Capoot,
CNBC,
11 Apr. 2026
-
The action kicked off in the Bronx, where agents descended on a Selwyn Ave.—
Colin Mixson,
New York Daily News,
11 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
But he’s journeyed to Lourdes and Our Lady of Guadalupe, both of which the Vatican has officially recognized as supernatural Marian apparitions.—
Denise Crosby,
Chicago Tribune,
5 Apr. 2026
-
Acosta’s bright shapes could be seen as apparitions of a sort.—
Ray Mark Rinaldi,
Denver Post,
30 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Spooks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spooks. Accessed 13 Apr. 2026.
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