specter

A ghostly apparition, a phantom.

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.

A threatening mental image; an unpleasant prospect

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.

Any of certain species of dragonfly of the genus Boyeria, family Aeshnidae.