ghost
/goust/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun:
- A faint trace or suggestion of something: A very small, barely noticeable amount or indication of a quality, feeling, or thing.
- The soul or spirit of a dead person, imagined as a pale, shadowy, and often visible form: The disembodied essence of a deceased person, believed to sometimes appear to the living.
- A person who secretly does writing or other work for another person who is publicly credited: A ghostwriter.
- A haunting memory or image: A mental impression of a past, often disturbing, experience that lingers in the mind.
Verb:
- To write as a ghostwriter: To author a text on behalf of another person who receives the official credit.
- To haunt or appear like a ghost: To move silently, stealthily, or in a way that is reminiscent of a specter.
- To end a personal relationship by suddenly and without explanation withdrawing from all communication: (Informal, modern usage) To cease contact abruptly.
Usage Examples
Noun:
- He detected a ghost of a smile on her face. (He saw the faintest hint of a smile.)
- The old castle is said to be haunted by a ghost. (The spirit of a dead person is believed to be there.)
- The celebrity hired a ghost to write her memoir. (She hired a person to write it secretly for her.)
- He looked like he had seen a ghost. (He appeared very frightened, as if he had seen a spirit.)
Verb:
- She ghosts articles for a famous journalist. (She writes articles that are published under his name.)
- The figure ghosted through the mist and disappeared. (The figure moved silently and mysteriously.)
- After their argument, he just ghosted her. (He stopped replying to her messages entirely.)
Advanced Usage
- "to give up the ghost": To die or stop working.
- My old car finally gave up the ghost. (My car finally broke down completely.)
- "not a ghost of a chance": No chance at all.
- He doesn't have a ghost of a chance of winning. (He has absolutely no possibility of winning.)
- "ghost in the machine": A phrase referring to an unexplained or seemingly supernatural element within a system, especially consciousness in a body.
Variants and Related Words
- Ghostly (adj): Resembling or characteristic of a ghost; eerie and pale.
- A ghostly figure appeared in the hallway.
- Ghostwrite (v): To write (something) for another person who is the named author.
- He agreed to ghostwrite the politician's autobiography.
- Ghostwriter (n): A person who writes material for another who is the named author.
- She works as a ghostwriter for several CEOs.
Synonyms
- Noun: Specter, phantom, apparition, spirit, wraith, hint, trace, suggestion.
- Verb: Haunt, shadow, ghostwrite, vanish.
Related Phrasal Verbs / Phrases
- Ghost around (informal): To move about quietly and stealthily.
- I thought I saw someone ghosting around the garden last night.
- To be ghosted: To be on the receiving end of someone ending contact abruptly.
- She was upset after being ghosted by her date.
Related Idioms
- Lay a ghost to rest: To stop being troubled by a memory or a past event.
- Visiting the old house helped her lay that ghost to rest.
- As pale as a ghost: Extremely pale, especially from fear or illness.
- When he heard the news, he went as pale as a ghost.
Noun
- a suggestion of some quality
- there was a touch of sarcasm in his tone
- he detected a ghost of a smile on her face
- the visible disembodied soul of a dead person
- a writer who gives the credit of authorship to someone else
- a mental representation of some haunting experience
- he looked like he had seen a ghost
- it aroused specters from his past
Verb
- write for someone else
- How many books have you ghostwritten so far?
- haunt like a ghost; pursue
- Fear of illness haunts her
- move like a ghost
- The masked men ghosted across the moonlit yard