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give up the ghost

give up the ghost
G g

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [giv uhp stressed th ee gohst]
    • /gɪv ʌp stressed ði goʊst/
    • /ɡɪv ʌp ðə ɡəʊst/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [giv uhp stressed th ee gohst]
    • /gɪv ʌp stressed ði goʊst/

Definitions of give up the ghost words

  • noun give up the ghost the soul of a dead person, a disembodied spirit imagined, usually as a vague, shadowy or evanescent form, as wandering among or haunting living persons. 1
  • noun give up the ghost a mere shadow or semblance; a trace: He's a ghost of his former self. 1
  • noun give up the ghost a remote possibility: He hasn't a ghost of a chance. 1
  • noun give up the ghost (sometimes initial capital letter) a spiritual being. 1
  • noun give up the ghost the principle of life; soul; spirit. 1
  • noun give up the ghost Informal. ghost writer. 1
See all 29 definitions of give up the ghost

Information block about the term

Origin of give up the ghost

First appearance:

before 900
One of the 4% oldest English words
before 900; Middle English goost (noun), Old English gāst; cognate with German Geist spirit

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Give up the ghost

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of Give up the ghost

give up the ghost popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 98% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

give up the ghost usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for give up the ghost

verb give up the ghost

  • drown — to die under water or other liquid of suffocation.
  • perish — to die or be destroyed through violence, privation, etc.: to perish in an earthquake.
  • succumb — to give way to superior force; yield: to succumb to despair.
  • decease — death
  • finish — to bring (something) to an end or to completion; complete: to finish a novel; to finish breakfast.
All 58 Synonyms of give up the ghost

Antonyms for give up the ghost

verb give up the ghost

  • grow — to increase by natural development, as any living organism or part by assimilation of nutriment; increase in size or substance.
  • improve — to bring into a more desirable or excellent condition: He took vitamins to improve his health.
  • bear — If you bear something somewhere, you carry it there or take it there.
  • continue — If someone or something continues to do something, they keep doing it and do not stop.
  • begin — To begin to do something means to start doing it.
All 25 Antonyms of give up the ghost

See also

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