specter

Etymology

From French spectre, from Latin spectrum (“appearance, apparition”). Doublet of spectrum.

noun

  1. A ghostly apparition, a phantom. [from 17th c.]
    A specter haunted the cemetery at the old Vasquez manor.
  2. (figurative) A threatening mental image. [from 18th c.]
    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. 1848, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, translated by Samuel Moore, The Communist Manifesto
    Already, the specter of higher interest rates was causing the housing market to seize up. 2022-09-27, Mark Landler, “Truss Takes a Bold Economic Gamble. Will It Sink Her Government?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
  3. (entomology) Any of certain species of dragonfly of the genus Boyeria, family Aeshnidae. [from 20th c.]

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