apparition
Translucent haunting figure
An apparition is something that appears, especially something ghostly or supernatural—a specter, phantom, or vision: The apparition of a woman in white haunted the old manor.
The word can also describe any sudden or unexpected appearance of a person or thing: He made a brief apparition at the party before vanishing again.
Insubstantial apparition
- specterGhostly threatening presence
- wraithSpectral apparition of someone
- spiritSoul, mood, or liquor
- shadeDarkness from blocked light
revenant · poltergeist · spook · banshee · ghoul · haunt · ectoplasm · phantasm
Temporary, soon departing
- ephemeralLasting very briefly
- momentaryLasting very briefly
- evanescentTending to vanish quickly
- vanishingCeasing to be visible
fading · flickering · brief · passing · elusive · glimpse · flash · dissolving
Permitting diffused light passage
- gossamerFilmy, delicate material
- diaphanousDelicately translucent
- insubstantialLacking physical or material substance
- incorporealNot made of matter
intangible · wispy · vaporous · filmy · nebulous · spectral · ghostly · otherworldly
Sign of future calamity
- harbingerOne who foreshadows
- presageIndicate beforehand
- premonitionAdvance sense of future events
- forewarningNotice of future trouble
foreboding · sign · warning · prophecy · augury · foreshadowing · herald · visitation
Perception without external cause
- mirageAtmospheric optical deception
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- delusionStubbornly held false belief
- figmentImagined thing, unreal
phantasmagoria · chimera · eidolon · afterimage · semblance · perception · projection · image
phantom
Insubstantial apparition
shade · revenant · poltergeist · spook · banshee · ghoul · haunt · ectoplasm · phantasm · doppelganger
transient
Temporary, soon departing
- ephemeralLasting very briefly
- momentaryLasting very briefly
- evanescentTending to vanish quickly
vanishing · fading · flickering · brief · passing · elusive · glimpse · flash · dissolving · dissipating
translucent
Permitting diffused light passage
- gossamerFilmy, delicate material
- diaphanousDelicately translucent
- insubstantialLacking physical or material substance
incorporeal · intangible · wispy · vaporous · filmy · nebulous · spectral · ghostly · otherworldly · unearthly
portent
Sign of future calamity
- harbingerOne who foreshadows
- presageIndicate beforehand
- premonitionAdvance sense of future events
forewarning · foreboding · sign · warning · prophecy · augury · foreshadowing · herald · visitation · death omen
hallucination
Perception without external cause
- mirageAtmospheric optical deception
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- delusionStubbornly held false belief
figment · phantasmagoria · chimera · eidolon · afterimage · semblance · perception · projection · image · sight
- beingsbeings, being, entities, entity, creatures
- mythical creaturesdragon, dragons, vampire, vampires, werewolf
- paranormalghosts, paranormal, haunting, poltergeist, paranormal phenomena
- spiritghost, specter, phantom, soul, wraith
- supernaturalghosts, ghost, witches, spirits, vampire
- supernatural beingsghost, demon, phantom, specter, banshee
apparitionreality
What actually exists
flesh and blood · actuality · real thing · substance · physical presence
apparitionliving being
Organism that's alive
flesh and blood · living thing · mortal · animate · human being
- ghostly apparitionsVisible manifestations of spirits