spectre

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

spectre — 名詞

  • spectresingular
  • spectresplural

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

1.名詞C1
釋義

隱憂；陰影

想像中可能發生、令人害怕的壞事

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.

再一次歉收的隱憂，讓山谷裡每個農夫都很擔心。

the spectre of + noun for a feared future event

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

好幾個月來，這個小鎮一直籠罩在工廠關閉的陰影下。

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

幽靈；鬼魂

據說看得見的死者身影，多半蒼白駭人

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.

Nora 發誓半夜有個蒼白的幽靈在樓上的走廊飄過。

a pale / grey spectre

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

在那個古老的故事裡，每年冬天都有個灰色的幽靈在城牆上行走。

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.