SPECTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does specter mean? 

• SPECTER (noun)
  The noun SPECTER has 2 senses:

1. a mental representation of some haunting experience

2. a ghostly appearing figure

  Familiarity information: SPECTER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPECTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A mental representation of some haunting experience

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

ghost; shade; specter; spectre; spook; wraith

Context example:

it aroused specters from his past

Hypernyms ("specter" is a kind of...):

apparition; fantasm; phantasm; phantasma; phantom; shadow (something existing in perception only)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A ghostly appearing figure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

apparition; fantasm; phantasm; phantasma; phantom; specter; spectre

Context example:

we were unprepared for the apparition that confronted us

Hypernyms ("specter" is a kind of...):

disembodied spirit; spirit (any incorporeal supernatural being that can become visible (or audible) to human beings)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "specter"):

Flying Dutchman (the captain of a phantom ship (the Flying Dutchman) who was condemned to sail against the wind until Judgment Day)

 Context examples 

He sprang forward to enter, but the specter plucked him back, and waved threateningly before him a...

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)