plural ghosts
1
: the seat of life or intelligence : soul
give up the ghost
2
: a disembodied soul
especially
: the soul of a dead person believed to be an inhabitant of the unseen world or to appear to the living in bodily likeness
4
a
: a faint shadowy trace
a ghost of a smile
b
: the least bit
not a ghost of a chance
5
: a false image in a photographic negative or on a television screen caused especially by reflection
6
: one who ghostwrites
7
: a red blood cell that has lost its hemoglobin
ghosted; ghosting; ghosts
1
: to haunt like a ghost
2
: ghostwrite
ghosted the mayor's autobiography
3
informal
: to cut off all contact with (someone) abruptly and usually without explanation : to subject (someone, such as a former romantic partner) to ghosting (see ghosting sense 2)
No one wants to be ghosted, mostly because it sucks to admit that the person you gushed about last week is now pretending you don't exist …—
Ellen Scott
Ellen Scott1
a
: to move silently like a ghost
b
: to sail quietly in light winds
2
Synonyms of ghost
Examples of ghost in a Sentence
Noun
a house haunted by ghosts
looked for ghosts in the graveyard on Halloween
Verb
She ghosted the mayor's autobiography.
Recent Examples on the Web
Ew Staff, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025
Point Man can fight off a ghost, her other son, their psychic soldiers.
—Will Borger, Rolling Stone, 31 Oct. 2025
Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2025
The company's own Super Refresh technology is also baked in to nip image ghosting in the bud.
—New Atlas, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ghost
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Noun
Ryan Gosling's 2009 one-off album with his pal Zach Shields and the Silverlake Conservatory Children's Choir is the perfect Halloween soundtrack — a monster-ghost love story that's equal parts sweet and spooky.
—Ew Staff, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Oct. 2025
Point Man can fight off a ghost, her other son, their psychic soldiers.
—Will Borger, Rolling Stone, 31 Oct. 2025
Verb
Writers who ghost books for public figures can’t acknowledge their own words.
—Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2025
The company's own Super Refresh technology is also baked in to nip image ghosting in the bud.
—New Atlas, 24 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ghost
Cite this Entry
“Ghost.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ghost. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
ghost
1 of 2 noun
: the soul of a dead person thought of as living in an unseen world or as appearing to living people
ghost
2 of 2 verb
ghosted; ghosting
1
: to haunt like a ghost
2
3
informal
: to cut off contact with (someone) abruptly and usually without explanation
Medical Definition
ghost
noun
: a structure (as a cell or tissue) that does not stain normally because of degenerative changes
specifically
: a red blood cell that has lost its hemoglobin
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