specter

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English

WOTD – 26 October 2015

Alternative forms

Etymology

From French spectre, from Latin spectrum (“appearance, apparition”). Doublet of spectrum.

Pronunciation

Noun

specter (plural specters) (American spelling)

  2. A ghostly apparition, a phantom.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ghost
    A specter haunted the cemetery at the old Vasquez manor.
  4. (figuratively) A threatening mental image.
    • 1848, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, translated by Samuel Moore, The Communist Manifesto:
      A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this specter: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.
    • 2022 September 27, Mark Landler, “Truss Takes a Bold Economic Gamble. Will It Sink Her Government?”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:
      Already, the specter of higher interest rates was causing the housing market to seize up.
  6. (entomology) Any of certain species of dragonfly of the genus Boyeria, family Aeshnidae.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Latin

Verb

specter

  1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of spectō
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