Specter    (pronounced spek-ter) noun


Definition

1. a harmful or evil being that is visible but has no material body; ghost; apparition.    2. a haunting or terrifying prospect; an object of fear, dread, or abhorrence.

Main Example

  • Last month's 6.5 magnitude quake in central California reminded us about "The Big One" which seismologists have been predicting for years and therefore hangs as a tremendous specter over the Golden State. According to experts, an 8.0 quake in LA would cause nearly 10,000 deaths and $225 billion in damage.

    Workplace Examples

  • It's my job to consider and prepare for the different contingencies that could happen to our company. The biggest specter--the thing that scares me the most--is our vulnerability to Internet attacks such as the recent Blaster worm and the Sobig virus.

  • Yes, our sales are abysmal and the near term outlook is somewhat grim, but invoking the specter of a Kmart-like bankruptcy is a mischaracterization. You forget that we have very little debt!

    Other Examples

  • pharmaceutical firms developing tamper-proof containers and thus virtually eliminating the specter of a sensational product poisoning such as that involving Tylenol in the early 1980s

  • the medical insurance industry's deceptive but highly effective "Harry and Louise" ads clobbering Clinton's health-care initiative by raising the specter of socialized medicine

  • the successful cloning of Dolly the sheep and other farm animals opening the door to the sinister specter of human cloning

  • following the capture of Saddam, fewer Americans being worried about the specter of Iraq turning into a Vietnam-like quagmire

    © 2004 V.J. Singal

    This Month's Other Words

    Sisyphean
    Disjunction
    Detritus
    Artful and Inartful
    Embittered
    Forestall
    Dispassionate

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