apparition

/ˈæpəˌrɪʃən/

/æpəˈrɪʃɪn/

Other forms: apparitions

If you see something you think might be a ghost, you can call it an apparition to hedge your bets. Apparition doesn't commit you in the same way the word ghost does—and saying that you've seen one won't cause you to be committed.

Deriving from the Latin apparere "appear," apparition was first used in 1520 in a religious context, referring to the moment when the three wise men appear before the infant Jesus in the Bible. Later, apparition came to include the appearance of ghosts, or ghostly figures. It can also mean a memory so vivid it's like seeing a ghost.

Definitions of apparition

1. noun

   a ghostly appearing figure
   “we were unprepared for the apparition that confronted us”

   synonyms: fantasm, phantasm, phantasma, phantom, specter, spectre

   types:

   Flying Dutchman

   the captain of a phantom ship (the Flying Dutchman) who was condemned to sail against the wind until Judgment Day

   type of:

   disembodied spirit, spirit

   any incorporeal supernatural being that can become visible (or audible) to human beings
2. noun

   the appearance of a ghostlike figure
   “I was recalled to the present by the apparition of a frightening specter”

   synonyms: visitation

   type of:

   appearance

   the event of coming into sight
3. noun

   something existing in perception only
   “a ghostly apparition at midnight”

   synonyms: fantasm, phantasm, phantasma, phantom, shadow

   types:

   UFO, flying saucer, unidentified flying object

   an (apparently) flying object whose nature is unknown; especially those considered to have extraterrestrial origins

   Flying Dutchman

   a phantom ship that is said to appear in storms near the Cape of Good Hope

   ghost, shade, specter, spectre, spook, wraith

   a mental representation of some haunting experience

   type of:

   illusion, semblance

   an erroneous mental representation
4. noun

   an act of appearing or becoming visible unexpectedly
   type of:

   appearance

   the act of appearing in public view