specter
English
editAlternative forms
edit- spectre (Commonwealth English)
Etymology
editFrom French spectre, from Latin spectrum (“appearance, apparition”). Doublet of spectrum.
Pronunciation
edit- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈspɛktɚ/, enPR: spĕkʹtər
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈspɛktə/, enPR: spĕkʹtə
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)
Noun
editspecter (plural specters) (American spelling)
- A ghostly apparition, a phantom. [from 17th c.]
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ghost
- A specter haunted the cemetery at the old Vasquez manor.
- (figuratively) A threatening mental image. [from 18th c.]
- 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.
- 2024 August 14, “Thai court removes PM Srettha Thavisin from office over cabinet appointment”, in france24.com[2]:
- Thailand's Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin for appointing to his cabinet a former lawyer who served jail time, raising the spectre of more political upheaval and a reset of the governing alliance.
- (entomology) Any of certain species of dragonfly of the genus Boyeria, family Aeshnidae. [from 20th c.]
Derived terms
editTranslations
editghostly apparition
|
mental image
Anagrams
editLatin
editVerb
editspecter
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *speḱ-
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *-trom
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛktə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/ɛktə(ɹ)/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- American English forms
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Entomology
- en:Ghosts
- en:Horror
- en:Mythological creatures
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin verb forms
- en:Dragonflies and damselflies