Meaning & use
spectral
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a nounliterary
Like a ghost, pale and strange, as if from another world.
Grammar: Usually goes before a noun: a spectral figure; it can also follow a linking verb in literary writing.
Patterns
- a spectral figure
- spectral light
A spectral figure drifted along the corridor in the moonlight.
The fog gave the harbor a spectral look.
Her face looked spectral in the glow of the screen.
adjectivebefore a nountechnicalphysics
Relating to a spectrum, especially the range of colors or frequencies produced when light or sound is split up.
Grammar: Appears before a noun in science: spectral analysis, a spectral line.
Patterns
- spectral analysis
- spectral lines
Astronomers use spectral analysis to learn what stars are made of.
The prism revealed distinct spectral colors on the wall.
Engineers studied the spectral content of the recorded sound.
Common combinations
- spectral figure
- A spectral figure appeared at the end of the lane.
- spectral analysis
- Spectral analysis revealed the metal in the painting.
- spectral lines
- Different elements produce different spectral lines.
- spectral glow
- A spectral glow hung over the marshes.
- spectral image
- The old photograph had a faint spectral image in the corner.
- spectral range
- The camera captures a wide spectral range.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ghostly
- Ghostly is the everyday word for something like a ghost, while spectral sounds more literary and can also be technical.
- eerie
- Eerie describes the unsettling feeling of a place or sound and need not involve anything ghost-like.
- phantom
- Phantom usually describes something imagined or unreal, such as a phantom noise, rather than something looking pale and ghostly.
- wraithlike
- Wraithlike stresses a thin, drifting, pale appearance and is more poetic than spectral.
Opposites
Word family
- spectrum noun
- a range of colors, frequencies or ideas
- specter noun
- a ghost, or a threatening possibility
- spectrally adverb
- in a ghostly way
- spectroscope noun
- an instrument that splits light into its spectrum
Commonly confused: spectral or spectacular? spectral or speculative?
spectral vs spectacular
Spectacular means impressive to look at. Spectral means ghostly or relating to a spectrum.
spectral vs speculative
Speculative means based on guesses. It has no link to ghosts or light.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'spectral' in its scientific sense?
Choose one answer.
Spectral analysis refers to splitting light into a spectrum. The other options use or misuse the ghostly sense, and 'spectral performance' is not natural.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “spectral”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.