specter

• spectre (Commonwealth English)

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

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈspɛktɚ/, enPR: spĕkʹtər
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈspɛktə/, enPR: spĕkʹtə

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• Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)

specter (plural specters) (American spelling)

1. A ghostly apparition, a phantom. [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ghost

   A specter haunted the cemetery at the old Vasquez manor.

2. (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.

   • 2022 September 27, Mark Landler, “Truss Takes a Bold Economic Gamble. Will It Sink Her Government?”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Already, the specter of higher interest rates was causing the housing market to seize up.

3. (entomology) Any of certain species of dragonfly of the genus Boyeria, family Aeshnidae. [from 20th c.]

• Sceptre, recepts, respect, scepter, sceptre, spectre

specter

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of spectō