Spectre

noun

noun ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    British standard spelling of specter.

    "To this extenuated spectre, perhaps, a crumb is not thrown once a year; but when ahungered and athirst to famine—when all humanity has forgotten the dying tenant of a decaying house—Divine Mercy remembers the mourner, […]"

  2. 2
    a mental representation of some haunting experience wordnet
  3. 3
    a ghostly appearing figure wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
apparitionghostapparitionfantasmghostphantasm

Example

More examples

"A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism."

Related phrases

spectre of the Brocken

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.