wraith
Plural: wraiths
Noun
- A ghost or ghostlike image of someone, especially seen shortly before or after death.
- a mental representation of some haunting experience
- A ghost or specter, especially a person's likeness seen just after their death.
Examples
- He saw the wraith of a bingo opportunity vanish as his opponent played ’QUEEN’.
Origin / Etymology
Borrowed from Middle Scots wraith, first attested in 1513 as a translation of the Aeneid.
The word has no certain etymology; it may be a transferred use of Middle Scots wraith, wrath (nominally "anger, rage", adjectivally "angry, wrathful"), thus connecting it to writhe and making it doublet of wrath and wroth.
Synonyms
ghost, shade, specter, spectre, spook, apparition, barghest, duppy, eidolon, empuse, haint, haunt, jumbie, phantom, poltergeist, revenant, spirit, sprite, visitant, wraith
Scrabble Score: 12
wraith: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordwraith: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
wraith: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary