spectre

IPA/ˈspektə(r)/
KK[spˈɛktɚ]IPA/ˈspektər/

spectre — noun

  • spectresingular
  • spectresplural

1. a worrying thing that could happen later and that frightens people when they ima

1.名詞C1
釋義

a worrying thing that could happen later and that frightens people when they imagine it.

例句

The spectre of another bad harvest worried every farmer in the valley.

the spectre of + noun for a feared future event

For months the small town lived under the spectre of a factory closure.

live under the spectre of + noun

同義詞
  • threat

    more everyday; a spectre is felt as a frightening mental image, not just a danger

  • shadow

    figurative, like 'the shadow of war'; softer and less vivid than spectre

文法句型

the spectre of + noun

用法筆記

Almost always followed by 'of' plus the feared thing, and usually singular. Common with verbs like 'raise', 'face', and 'live under'.

常見錯誤

❌The spectre about war frightened everyone.
✅The spectre of war frightened everyone.
💡this sense takes 'of', never 'about'.

2. the shape of a dead person that some people believe they can see, especially a p

2.名詞C1
釋義

the shape of a dead person that some people believe they can see, especially a pale or frightening one.

例句

Nora swore that a pale spectre drifted along the upstairs hallway at midnight.

a pale / grey spectre

In the old story, a grey spectre walks the castle walls every winter.

同義詞
  • ghost

    the ordinary everyday word; spectre sounds more literary and old-fashioned

  • phantom

    also literary; stresses something unreal or barely seen rather than the dead returning

用法筆記

This literary sense is rarer than 'ghost' in everyday speech; readers meet it mostly in older fiction and ghost stories. Distinguish from sense 1, which is an imagined danger, not a visible figure.