specter
/ˈspɛktɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.08 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any of various species of Asian danaid butterflies of the genus Idea, family Nymphalidae.
American usage
Example Sentences
- "A specter haunted the cemetery at the old Vasquez manor."
- "Nevertheleſſe, they which ſhould ſee thoſe Iſles thus to moove in this manner, not knowing before that the ſame were naturall: they would entertaine many and diverſe apprehenſions in their fantaſie, & would imagine that they ſawe a thing very ſtrange and prodigious, and ſuch as did very neere approach to the nature of ſome Specter [translating spectre] and viſion."
- "The specter of an election-vote recount is this year's political bogeyman."
- "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."
- "Already, the specter of higher interest rates was causing the housing market to seize up."
- "Thailand's Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin for appointing to his cabinet a former lawyer who served jail time, raising the spectre of more political upheaval and a reset of the governing alliance."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈspɛktɚ/
- British English: /ˈspɛktə/
Usage
- American usage