specter
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specter
- /ˈspɛktɚ/ US
- /ˈspɛktə/ UK
Rhymes with -ɛktə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
From Middle French spectre, from Latin spectrum (“appearance, apparition”). Doublet of spectrum.
noun specters · spectre
- A ghostly apparition, a phantom. A specter haunted the cemetery at the old Vasquez manor.
- A threatening mental image; an unpleasant prospect The specter of an election-vote recount is this year's political bogeyman.
- Any of certain species of dragonfly of the genus Boyeria, family Aeshnidae.
- Any of various species of Asian danaid butterflies of the genus Idea, family Nymphalidae. The large and handsome spectre-butterfly, Hestia durvillei; the pale-winged peacock butterfly, Drusilla catops; and the most brilliant and wonderful of the clear-winged moths, Cocytia durvillei, were especially interesting, as well, as several little "blues," equalling in brilliancy and beauty anyth
