ghostly
Like a phantom
Ghostly describes something resembling or suggesting a ghost—pale, shadowy, or eerily insubstantial.
A ghostly figure appears in the fog.
Ghostly light is dim and unsettling.
The word can suggest the supernatural or simply an uncanny, spectral quality: The abandoned house had a ghostly stillness.
Less commonly, ghostly means relating to the spirit or soul, as in older religious contexts.
Visible supernatural manifestation
- phantomInsubstantial apparition
- specterGhostly threatening presence
- wraithSpectral apparition of someone
- spiritSoul, mood, or liquor
shade · revenant · banshee · poltergeist · spook · manifestation · haunt · visitation
Left behind completely
- emptyHolding nothing inside
- desolateBleak and abandoned
- forsakenCompletely abandoned or discarded
- uninhabitedHaving no occupants
vacant · hollow · silent · still · lifeless · barren · lonely · isolated
Unhealthily lacking color
- ashenPale, grayish-white
- wanPale and unwell-looking
- whiteAbsence of pigment
- colorlessDevoid of pigmentation
bloodless · deathly · cadaverous · waxen · blanched · pasty · sallow · chalky
Unsettlingly strange
- creepyDisturbingly strange
- chillingCausing fear or cold
- uncannyEerily beyond normal
- hauntingDisturbingly unforgettable
sinister · ominous · unsettling · macabre · foreboding · dreadful · frightening · grim
Allowing light through
- etherealDelicate beyond earthly measure
- diaphanousDelicately translucent
- gossamerFilmy, delicate material
- wispyThin and insubstantial
vaporous · insubstantial · incorporeal · intangible · shimmering · luminous · glowing · nebulous
Beyond scientific explanation
- occultConcealed from view
- psychicOne claiming supernatural perception
- seanceRitual to contact spirits
- mediumMiddle size or state
clairvoyant · necromancy · exorcism · possession · telekinesis · otherworldly · unearthly · mystical
apparition
Visible supernatural manifestation
- phantomInsubstantial apparition
- specterGhostly threatening presence
- wraithSpectral apparition of someone
spirit · shade · revenant · banshee · poltergeist · spook · manifestation · haunt · visitation · presence
abandoned
Left behind completely
uninhabited · vacant · hollow · silent · still · lifeless · barren · lonely · isolated · eerie
pallid
Unhealthily lacking color
colorless · bloodless · deathly · cadaverous · waxen · blanched · pasty · sallow · chalky · spectral
spooky
Unsettlingly strange
haunting · sinister · ominous · unsettling · macabre · foreboding · dreadful · frightening · grim · ghoulish
transparent
Allowing light through
- etherealDelicate beyond earthly measure
- diaphanousDelicately translucent
- gossamerFilmy, delicate material
wispy · vaporous · insubstantial · incorporeal · intangible · shimmering · luminous · glowing · nebulous · misty
paranormal
Beyond scientific explanation
medium · clairvoyant · necromancy · exorcism · possession · telekinesis · otherworldly · unearthly · mystical · preternatural
- otherworldlyspectral, eerie, ethereal, phantom, wraithlike
- -LY wordssoftly, loudly, quickly, slowly, happily
- Gothicgargoyle, gothic fiction, pointed arch, gothic architecture, flying buttress
- atmospheresmisty, hazy, foggy, smoky, humid
- Gothic castledungeons, towers, turrets, battlements, drawbridges
- pallorpale, pallid, wan, ashen, pasty
- ghost storiesTales of the supernatural
- ghost storyNarrative featuring apparitions
- ghost townDeserted former inhabited place
- pale as a ghostExtremely pallid from shock
- white as a ghostExtremely pale complexion
- ghosts from one's pastUnresolved history resurfacing
ghost, ghosting, ghosts, ghosted, ghosty, ghostlike, ghosties, ghostliness, ghostlier