Meaning & use
wraith
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Meanings
nouncountableliterary
A ghostly figure, believed in folklore to appear near the time of someone's death or to haunt a place.
Grammar: Found in stories and fantasy: a pale wraith.
Patterns
- a wraith of something
A pale wraith drifted across the moor at midnight.
In the legend, the wraith of the drowned sailor haunts the harbor.
The villagers swore they saw a wraith near the old mill.
nouncountablefigurativeliterary
A very thin, pale or ghostly person, or a thin curl of something such as smoke or mist.
Grammar: Figurative comparison: she looked like a wraith.
Patterns
- a wraith of smoke
Illness had turned the strong man into a wraith.
A wraith of smoke rose from the chimney.
She moved through the crowd like a wraith.
Word forms
| plural | wraiths |
|---|
Common combinations
- a pale wraith
- A pale wraith stood at the end of the corridor.
- a ghostly wraith
- The story features a ghostly wraith in the fog.
- a wraith of smoke
- A wraith of smoke curled from the candle.
- thin as a wraith
- After the illness she was thin as a wraith.
- haunted by a wraith
- The castle is said to be haunted by a wraith.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ghost
- Ghost is the ordinary word for the spirit of a dead person, while wraith sounds eerier and more literary.
- specter
- Specter suggests a frightening vision, and can also mean a looming threat, whereas wraith is closer to a ghostly figure.
- phantom
- Phantom emphasizes an unreal or illusory appearance, while wraith suggests a thin, pale form.
- apparition
- Apparition is a neutral word for any sudden ghostly appearance and sounds less dramatic than wraith.
Word family
- wraithlike adjective
- Thin and ghostly like a wraith.
Commonly confused: wraith or wreath?
wraith vs wreath
A wreath is a ring of flowers or leaves and is pronounced differently, while a wraith is a ghost.
Practice
The old fisherman claimed that a ______ drifted over the water each night before a storm.
Choose one answer.
A wraith is a ghostly figure. A wreath is a ring of flowers, a writ is a legal order, and wrath is anger.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “wraith”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.