spectre

Word family

Related topics: Folklore

spec·tre British EnglishBrE, specter American English /ˈspektə $ -ər/ noun

1 the spectre of something FRIGHTENEDsomething that people are afraid of because it may affect them badly 引起恐惧的事物

The recession is again raising the spectre of unemployment.

这次经济衰退再次引起了人们对失业的恐惧。

Examples from the Corpus

the spectre of something• The prospect of such telecoms competition raises the spectre of intervention by government or the courts.• It was only after the reasonable harvest of 1922 that the spectre of nation-wide starvation receded.• And the spectre of money laundering looms.• But the spectre of delivering a speech brown-nosing the teachers jammed her imagination.• For more than a decade, the spectre of the return of the hippy, of progressive rock, has haunted music-making.• Looming large over all these doubts is the spectre of costs.• The cultural move from an autonomous and independent sculpture back to the public sphere inevitably raises the spectre of popular culture.

2. [countableC] literaryALRF a ghost 鬼魂，幽灵

Examples from the Corpus

spectre• Another spectre of his too-vivid memory rose up to tempt him.• Loneliness flooded her like the bone-chilling spectre of the damned.• Once firmly embarked on the slow-growth road, the United States can not avoid the ominous spectre of social and economic decay.• And the spectre of money laundering looms.• But the spectre of delivering a speech brown-nosing the teachers jammed her imagination.• The attack has raised the spectre of another war between ice-cream operators in Glasgow.• The prospect of such telecoms competition raises the spectre of intervention by government or the courts.• The cultural move from an autonomous and independent sculpture back to the public sphere inevitably raises the spectre of popular culture.• They say that the spectres of the murdered children walk through the grounds at night.• The spectre is reputed to be that of Frances Culpepper, daughter of Lord John Freschville.

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