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ghostthe spirit of a dead person that is believed to appear to living people

Part of speech: NOUN

Definition: the spirit of a dead person that is believed to appear to living people

Pronunciation (IPA): /ɡoʊst/

Example Sentences

  • My phone battery gave up the ghost right before my job interview.
  • She became a ghost writer for famous celebrities' autobiographies.
  • Don't ghost me like you did last time - at least send a goodbye text!

ghost

NOUN

[/ɡoʊst/]

the spirit of a dead person that is believed to appear to living people

Spirit of dead person appears
💡 Concept

Spirit of dead person appears

The ghost joins the host for a toast!
🎵 Rhyme

The ghost joins the host for a toast!

Got the picture? Now let's practice.

🎤Pronunciation

🇺🇸 US/ɡoʊst/
🇬🇧 UK/ɡəʊst/

🌳Etymology

Rootghost

Origin

Ghost derives from Old English 'gāst', which descended from the common Germanic ancestor. The word originates from Proto-Indo-European roots meaning 'spirit' or 'breath', originally referring to the soul or immaterial essence before developing its modern meaning of a supernatural apparition.

Breakdown

gāst (Old English: spirit, soul) → ghost. The word preserves the Germanic root related to 'breath' and 'spirit' in Indo-European language family, with the semantic shift from abstract spirit to phantom occurrence in Middle English.

🎵Rhyme

hostmostpostcoasttoast
host
most
post
coast
toast

🔗Collocations

ghost town
ghost writer
give up the ghost
ghost story
ghost of a chance
ghost someone

📝Examples

😄 Fun example

My phone battery gave up the ghost right before my job interview.

She became a ghost writer for famous celebrities' autobiographies.

😄 Fun example

Don't ghost me like you did last time - at least send a goodbye text!

The abandoned amusement park looked like a ghost town at midnight.

📚Related Words

Synonyms

spiritphantomspecterapparitionshade

Antonyms

living personmortalhuman

Related

hauntedsupernaturalspookyparanormalcemetery

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