spectre

/ ˈspɛktə /

noun

1. a ghost; phantom; apparition
2. a mental image of something unpleasant or menacing

   the spectre of redundancy

Word History and Origins

Origin of spectre¹

C17: from Latin spectrum, from specere to look at

Example Sentences

Craig is signed on for just one more Bond flick after Spectre.

From The Daily Beast

A spectre is haunting the internet—the spectre of Open Sarcasm.

From The Daily Beast

Nonetheless, it would have been better if the Supreme Court had not raised this spectre by halting the process.

From The Daily Beast

A specter is haunting the world,” they chant, echoing the first sentence of the Communist Manifesto: “The spectre of capitalism.

From The Daily Beast

Alone Orlean lay trying vainly to forget something—something that stood like a spectre before her eyes.

From Project Gutenberg

And when he did leave the dismal scene of this last act of his miseries, it was like the spectre of the man who had entered it.

From Project Gutenberg

Besides, there was the ever unceasing grizzly spectre of poverty dangling before Jessie's eyes.

From Project Gutenberg

A thing purple and dripping with blood—ghastly—unthinkable—monstrous—a spectre of nightmare dreams!

From Project Gutenberg

As a public force he was no longer a human being at all—he was a deformity, a spectre conjured up to bring fright to the beholder.

From Project Gutenberg