SPOOK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does spook mean? 

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

1. someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric

2. a mental representation of some haunting experience

  Familiarity information: SPOOK used as a noun is rare.

• SPOOK (verb)
  The verb SPOOK has 1 sense:

1. frighten or scare, and often provoke into a violent action

  Familiarity information: SPOOK used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPOOK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

creep; spook; weirdie; weirdo; weirdy

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

disagreeable person; unpleasant person (a person who is not pleasant or agreeable)

Sense 2

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 ("spook" is a kind of...):

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

Derivation:

spook (frighten or scare, and often provoke into a violent action)

• SPOOK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they spook    ... he / she / it spooks   
Past simple: spooked   
Past participle: spooked   
-ing form: spooking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Frighten or scare, and often provoke into a violent action

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Context example:

The noise spooked the horse

Hypernyms (to "spook" is one way to...):

affright; fright; frighten; scare (cause fear in)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to spook Sue

Derivation:

spook (a mental representation of some haunting experience)

 Context examples 

“The time and energy finches spend spooking themselves by fleeing when they are not in danger could be better spent looking for food, mating, laying eggs, and rearing their young.”

(A decade after the predators have gone, Galapagos Island finches are still being spooked, University of Cambridge)