ghostly


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ghostly

characteristic of a ghost; phantasmal; spectral; wraithlike; unearthly: a ghostly silence
Not to be confused with:
ghastly – dreadful; horrible: a ghastly murder; deathlike, pallid, cadaverous
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embree

ghost·ly

 (gōst′lē)
adj. ghost·li·er, ghost·li·est
1. Of, relating to, or resembling a ghost, a wraith, or an apparition; spectral.
2. Of or relating to the soul or spirit; spiritual.

ghost′li·ness n.
ghost′ly adv.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ghostly

(ˈɡəʊstlɪ)
adj, -lier or -liest
1. of or resembling a ghost; spectral: a ghostly face appeared at the window.
2. suggesting the presence of ghosts; eerie
3. archaic of or relating to the soul or spirit
ˈghostliness n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ghost•ly

(ˈgoʊst li)

adj. -li•er, -li•est.
1. of, characteristic of, or resembling a ghost; spectral.
2. spiritual.
[before 900]
ghost′li•ness, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.ghostly - resembling or characteristic of a phantom; "a ghostly face at the window"; "a phantasmal presence in the room"; "spectral emanations"; "spiritual tappings at a seance"
supernatural - not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws; not physical or material; "supernatural forces and occurrences and beings"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

ghostly

adjective unearthly, weird, phantom, eerie, supernatural, uncanny, spooky (informal), spectral, eldritch (poetic), ghostlike, phantasmal The moon shed a ghostly light on the fields.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

ghostly

adjective
Gruesomely suggestive of ghosts or death:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
شَبَحي
přízračný
åndelig
draugalegur
kot duh
hayalet gibi

ghostly

[ˈgəustlɪ] ADJfantasmal, espectral
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

ghostly

[ˈgəʊstli] adjfantomatiqueghost story nhistoire f de revenantsghost town nville f fantômeghost train n (British)train m fantômeghost-write [ˈgəʊstraɪt] vt
He didn't write it, the book was ghost-written → Il ne l'a pas écrit, le livre a été écrit par un nègre.
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

ghostly

adj (+er)geisterhaft, gespenstisch; a ghostly presencedie Gegenwart eines Geistes
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

ghostly

[ˈgəʊstlɪ] adjspettrale
a ghostly apparition → uno spettro
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

ghost

(gəust) noun
a spirit, usually of a dead person. Do you believe in ghosts?; Hamlet thought he saw his father's ghost.
ˈghostly adjective
of or like a ghost or ghosts. a ghostly figure.
give up the ghost
to die.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
I could imagine no worse eternal punishment for evil seamen who die unrepentant upon the earthly sea than that their souls should be condemned to man the ghosts of disabled ships, drifting for ever across a ghostly and tempestuous ocean.
I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me.
The very furniture in the room seemed to have shrunk since she saw it before: the slag in the tapestry looked more like a ghost in his ghostly blue-green world; the volumes of polite literature in the bookcase looked more like immovable imitations of books.
But the suddenly started Pequod was not quick enough to escape the sound of the splash that the corpse soon made as it struck the sea; not so quick, indeed, but that some of the flying bubbles might have sprinkled her hull with their ghostly baptism.
``Pax vobiscum,'' reiterated the Jester, ``I am a poor servant of St Francis, who, travelling through this wilderness, have fallen among thieves, (as Scripture hath it,) quidam viator incidit in latrones, which thieves have sent me unto this castle in order to do my ghostly office on two persons condemned by your honourable justice.''
The sky had still the pallor of dawn, and there was a ghostly silence on the lagoon.
Black shadows of bordering trees lay athwart the road, which, in the short reaches between, gleamed a ghostly white.
Altogether, it was a weird and ghostly place; but, ghostly as it was, it wanted not in legends among the superstitious negroes, to increase it terrors.
Whether it is the old lady's fear, or the many ghostly traditions of this place, or the crucifix itself, I do not know, but I am not feeling nearly as easy in my mind as usual.
Its light struck a ghostly white beam across my cabin, and made an ominous shape on the planking by my bunk.
She looked ghostly, as if she were merely a soul at large.
These courageous men, it was said, were unable to force the door by their united strength, and always were hurled from the steps by some invisible agency and severely injured; the door immediately afterward opening, apparently of its own volition, to admit or free some ghostly guest.