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
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
Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 25 Apr. 2025
In the epic fifth and final season, Joe Goldberg returns to New York to enjoy his happily ever after… until his perfect life is threatened by the ghosts of his past and his own dark desires.
—Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 23 Apr. 2025
Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Apr. 2025
The final straw came when the poster’s mother shared her frustration about wanting to see her grandchildren and how Selena had ghosted her on an invitation for a Saturday morning outing.
—Ashley Vega, People.com, 16 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ghost
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Noun
His voice is the ghost in the machine, a strangely humane presence amid all the urban-industrial pastoral.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 25 Apr. 2025
In the epic fifth and final season, Joe Goldberg returns to New York to enjoy his happily ever after… until his perfect life is threatened by the ghosts of his past and his own dark desires.
—Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 23 Apr. 2025
Verb
The generational gap in honesty found in the survey comes amid a broader trend of unconventional job-search behaviors among younger candidates, including ghosting employers and abandoning the hiring process midway.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Apr. 2025
The final straw came when the poster’s mother shared her frustration about wanting to see her grandchildren and how Selena had ghosted her on an invitation for a Saturday morning outing.
—Ashley Vega, People.com, 16 Apr. 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 9 May. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical 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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