noun
Meaning 1
A ghost or phantom.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: informal
Examples
- The building was haunted by a couple of spooks.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
spook
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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spo͞ok
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/spuːk/
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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -uːk
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spo͝ok
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US, dialectal: /spʊk/
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CMU ARPABET: S P UW1 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A hobgoblin.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A scare or fright.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: informal
Examples
- The big spider gave me a spook.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
An undercover agent, spy, or intelligence analyst.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang
Topics: espionage, government, military, politics, war
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A black person.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated, ethnic, offensive, slang, slur
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
A metaphysical manifestation; an artificial distinction or construct.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: human-sciences, philosophy, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
A psychiatrist.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, slang
Topics: medicine, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
A player who engages in hole carding by attempting to glimpse the dealer's hole card when the dealer checks under an ace or a 10 to see if a blackjack is present.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang
Topics: gambling, games
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 9
To frighten or make nervous (especially by startling).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Examples
- The hunters were spooked when the black cat crossed their path. The movement in the bushes spooked the deer and they ran.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 10
To become frightened (by something startling).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
Examples
- The deer spooked at the sound of the dogs.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 11
To haunt.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 12
a mental representation of some haunting experience
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- he looked like he had seen a ghost
- it aroused specters from his past
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: ghost, shade, wraith, specter, spectre
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: apparition, phantom, phantasm, phantasma, fantasm, shadow
noun
Meaning 13
someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: creep, weirdo, weirdie, weirdy
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: unpleasant person, disagreeable person
verb
Meaning 14
frighten or scare, and often provoke into a violent action
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- The noise spooked the horse
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: frighten, fright, scare, affright
History
Etymology
Borrowed from Dutch spook (“ghost”), from Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”). Cognate with Middle Low German spôk, spûk (“apparition, ghost”), Middle High German gespük (“a haunting”), German Spuk, Danish spøge (“to haunt”), Swedish spöke (“ghost”).
Across languages
Translations
65 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: при́зрак (prízrak) — ghost or phantom
- Bulgarian: дух (duh) — ghost or phantom
- Chichewa: mzukwa — ghost or phantom
- Dutch: spook — ghost or phantom
- Dutch: schijnsel — ghost or phantom
- Dutch: geest — ghost or phantom
- Finnish: haamu — ghost or phantom
- Finnish: aave — ghost or phantom
- Finnish: kummitus — ghost or phantom
- French: fantôme — ghost or phantom
- French: revenant — ghost or phantom
- Georgian: მოჩვენება (močveneba) — ghost or phantom
- Georgian: მოლანდება (molandeba) — ghost or phantom
- German: Geist — ghost or phantom
- German: Phantom — ghost or phantom
- German: Gespenst — ghost or phantom
- Indonesian: hantu — ghost or phantom
- Māori: mangumangu taipō — ghost or phantom
- Māori: taipō — ghost or phantom
- Plautdietsch: Spuak — ghost or phantom
- Romanian: stafie — ghost or phantom
- Romanian: fantomă — ghost or phantom
- Russian: при́зрак (prízrak) — ghost or phantom
- Swedish: spöke — ghost or phantom
- Swedish: osalig ande — ghost or phantom
- Turkish: hayalet — ghost or phantom
- Bulgarian: таласъ́м (talasǎ́m) — hobgoblin
- Dutch: kabouter — hobgoblin
- Finnish: peikko — hobgoblin
- German: Kobold — hobgoblin
- German: Wicht — hobgoblin
- Māori: taipō — hobgoblin
- Romanian: spiriduș — hobgoblin
- Dutch: spion — spy
- Dutch: verspieder — spy
- Finnish: vakooja — spy
- French: barbouze — spy
- French: espion — spy
- Georgian: შპიონი (šṗioni) — spy
- Georgian: ჯაშუში (ǯašuši) — spy
- Georgian: მსტოვარი (msṭovari) — spy
- German: Geheimagent — spy
- German: Spion — spy
- Occitan: espia — spy
- Occitan: espion — spy
- Romanian: spion — spy
- Russian: шпио́н (špión) — spy
- Chinese Mandarin: 黑鬼 (hēiguǐ) — pejorative: black person
- Dutch: nikker — pejorative: black person
- French: bamboula — pejorative: black person
- Russian: ни́ггер (nígger) — pejorative: black person
- Finnish: säikäyttää — to scare or frighten
- Finnish: säikytellä — to scare or frighten
- Finnish: pelästyttää — to scare or frighten
- Māori: whakamataku — to scare or frighten
- Māori: whakaohorere — to scare or frighten
- Romanian: speria — to scare or frighten
- Russian: пуга́ть (pugátʹ) — to scare or frighten
- Russian: вспугивать (vspugivatʹ) — to scare or frighten
- Spanish: sobresaltar — to scare or frighten
- Spanish: asustar — to scare or frighten
- Spanish: espantar — to scare or frighten
- Spanish: aterrorizar — to scare or frighten
- Swedish: skrämma — to scare or frighten
- Ukrainian: зляка́ти (zljakáty) — to scare or frighten
Real reading context