These words refer to supernatural manifestations or appearances. Ghost is the general word for the appearance of a dead person in the semblance of his living form: the ghost of Hamlet’s father. Once, the word could refer more widely to the soul or any non-material being, but this survives only in a few phrases: the Holy ghost ; give up the ghost. Wraith contrast with ghost in specifically indicating ht ghost like manifestation of a person still alive but about to die: The wraith of her husband, long missing in action, appeared to her in a dream. The word can, however, refer less precisely to other supernatural manifestations. Metaphorically, it can refer to someone who is thin or to anything faint: the wraith of a child who sat in the refugee hospital; a wraith of smoke lazing up from the chimney.

Shade now sounds either high-flown or affected, except in the humorous exclamation, shades of , suggesting that one thing is unfortunately reminiscent of another: "Shade of Cézanne!" she said with a yawn, after looking over her friend’s new painting. Spook indicates downright cynicism, scepticism or amusement at the notion that ghosts exist: old maids so thwarted by life that they begin seeing spooks just for excitement.

Spirit is the most general word among these in the sense of indicating any sort of non-material existent being; this may include the souls of living things, the hosts of dead things, the essence of bodiless forms that have never been born and never died, and, in fact, the godhead itself: spirits of unborn children; the spirits assigned by Hinduism to snakes, frogs and water buffaloes; the angelic spirits ; the creator Spirit of the universe. It can also, in another sense, contrast all non-material or mental life with that of matter or body: living the life of the spirit ; afflicted both in body and spirit . It can also refer less metaphysically to the essence of anything: the materialistic spirit of the age. Apparition can refer to any supernatural manifestation; often it suggests a detailed or narrative vision vouchsafed to someone: an apparition in which Joseph was warned to take his family and flee to Egypt. It can also refer to the form seen in a vision: an apparition that had wings, wore a halo and streamed with divine light. The word’s point may be a sudden appearance: an apparition that stopped them stock-still in the midst of their flight.

Spectre contrasts with apparition in suggesting any sort of terrifying supernatural manifestation: the gruesome demon or spectre that tormented those in the castle. Metaphorically, the word can suggest any unpleasant threat or prospect: the spectres of want, hunger and disease that hang over the world. Phantom can apply to any manifestation, pleasant or not. Its point may often be to raise the question of whether the phantom was really the ghost of his father or merely a guise worn by the Devil to secure his damnation. Metaphorically, the word can point to any illusion, misconception or bugbear: amputees who experience what are known as phantom limb phenomena; enticing the masses with the phantom of a future Utopia; raising the phantom of world-wide defeat whenever negotiations were suggested.