Library / English Dictionary

SPOOK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A mental representation of some haunting experience

Example:

it aroused specters from his past

Synonyms:

ghost; shade; specter; spectre; spook; wraith

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("spook" is a kind of...):

apparition; fantasm; phantasm; phantasma; phantom; shadow (something existing in perception only)

Derivation:

spook (frighten or scare, and often provoke into a violent action)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric

Synonyms:

creep; spook; weirdie; weirdo; weirdy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("spook" is a kind of...):

disagreeable person; unpleasant person (a person who is not pleasant or agreeable)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Frighten or scare, and often provoke into a violent action

Example:

The noise spooked the horse

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "spook" is one way to...):

affright; fright; frighten; scare (cause fear in)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to spook Sue

Derivation:

spook (a mental representation of some haunting experience)

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