ghostlike
Pale and vanishing
Ghostlike describes something resembling or suggestive of a ghost—pale, insubstantial, or eerily silent.
A figure moving through fog might appear ghostlike.
The word often emphasizes an unsettling quality of presence without solidity: Her ghostlike reflection stared back from the dark window.
Something ghostlike seems to hover between being there and not being there at all.
Ghostlike or wavelength-related
- phantasmalLike an apparition
- apparitionalResembling a specter
- spookyUnsettlingly strange
- uncannyEerily beyond normal
creepy · chilling · macabre · sinister · ominous · ghoulish · shadowy · foreboding
Visible supernatural manifestation
- specterGhostly threatening presence
- phantomInsubstantial apparition
- wraithSpectral apparition of someone
- shadeDarkness from blocked light
revenant · poltergeist · haunted · supernatural · paranormal · séance · medium · possession
Permitting diffused light passage
- wispyThin and insubstantial
- gossamerFilmy, delicate material
- diaphanousDelicately translucent
- vaporousLike a gas, diffuse
insubstantial · floaty · featherlight · delicate · airy · tenuous · sylphlike · otherworldly
Lacking physical form; unimportant
- incorporealNot made of matter
- invisibleCannot be seen
- elusiveHard to find
- ungraspableImpossible to seize
untouchable · bodiless · formless · nonphysical · unseen · impalpable · disembodied · substanceless
spectral
Ghostlike or wavelength-related
- phantasmalLike an apparition
- apparitionalResembling a specter
- spookyUnsettlingly strange
uncanny · creepy · chilling · macabre · sinister · ominous · ghoulish · shadowy · foreboding · dreadful
apparition
Visible supernatural manifestation
- specterGhostly threatening presence
- phantomInsubstantial apparition
- wraithSpectral apparition of someone
shade · revenant · poltergeist · haunted · supernatural · paranormal · séance · medium · possession · afterlife
translucent
Permitting diffused light passage
- wispyThin and insubstantial
- gossamerFilmy, delicate material
- diaphanousDelicately translucent
vaporous · insubstantial · floaty · featherlight · delicate · airy · tenuous · sylphlike · otherworldly · ephemeral
immaterial
Lacking physical form; unimportant
- incorporealNot made of matter
- invisibleCannot be seen
- elusiveHard to find
ungraspable · untouchable · bodiless · formless · nonphysical · unseen · impalpable · disembodied · substanceless · vanishing
ashen
Pale, grayish-white
cadaverous · deathly · colorless · blanched · chalky · sallow · anemic · waxen · pasty · gaunt