Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use spook in a sentence

28 example sentences · noun, verb

Spook means a ghost or phantom. Example: “The building was haunted by a couple of spooks.”

Examples of spook by meaning

nounA ghost or phantom.

  • The building was haunted by a couple of spooks.
  • "I'll say what I think, no more and no less, and I won't be scared by you or your spooks into altering my opinions."1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html)...

nounA scare or fright.

  • The big spider gave me a spook.

nounAn undercover agent, spy, or intelligence analyst.

  • But, asks the BBC’s Gordon Corera, what do real life spooks make of fictional spies?2009 July 24, “Spies like them”, in BBC News Magazine
  • The congressional study frets that Huawei’s and ZTE’s products could be used as Trojan horses by Chinese spooks.2012 October 13, “Huawei and ZTE: Put on hold”, in The Economist
  • The Alternative for Germany, a party declared extremist by domestic spooks, scored a record result in a national election in February.2025 September 23, “Six books to read to understand Europe’s hard right”, in The Economist, →ISSN

nounA psychiatrist.

  • The most disdain is directed toward the “shrinks” or the “spooks,” as the psychiatrists are called.1975, Robert O. Pasnau, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, page 124

verbTo frighten or make nervous (especially by startling).

  • The hunters were spooked when the black cat crossed their path. The movement in the bushes spooked the deer and they ran.

verbTo become frightened (by something startling).

  • The deer spooked at the sound of the dogs.

More sentences with spook

  • The strange man with the large head spooked me out so much until I realized it was only a picture.From the entry spook out
  • All of a sudden he remembered the spooks, and it knocked him all of a heap.2012, Joseph Lewis French, Masterpieces of Mystery, page 218. From the entry all of a heap
  • Most o' the horses are gunbroke an' they're less likely to spook than the cattle.2009, Will Armstrong, Jordan Land, page 122. From the entry gunbroke
  • I fear it like a child scared of spooks under a bed.2004 December 8, Susan Reinhardt, “Facing my fear: Doing Disney with the crowds”, in Asbury Park Press, page 18. From the entry Disneyphobia
  • I'm totally paraphrasing here, but the whole "points" thing spooked me a bit, seemed MLMish to me.2003 May 3, Jester, “Re: Merchant accounts? Looong”, in alt.wholesale (Usenet). From the entry MLMish
  • They may stay around, but once they get spooked, they will probably split for good.1999 January 28, Dan Cowell, “Re: Free-ranging pheasants”, in sci.agriculture.poultry (Usenet). From the entry Amherst
  • There is one class of spook we have not encountered as yet.1982, Richard Deacon, With My Little Eye: The Memoirs of a Spy-Hunter, page 103. From the entry scalphunter
  • Dat swamp des’ splodin’ full o’ ghos’ an’ spook, boo-daddy an’ debblement!1906, John Bennett, The Treasure of Peyre Gaillard, →ISBN, page 287. From the entry boo daddy
  • All of this has spooked the world’s investors.2025 April 25, Annie Lowrey, “What Would Be Worse Than a Recession?”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 28 Apr 2025. From the entry seize up
  • They were spooked, he may have been carrying corona.2020 May 5, Sankarshan Thakur, “A mildewed life: State of play: The migrant is trapped between the home and the world”, in The Telegraph…. From the entry corona
  • The anonymous building opposite St James's Park Tube station in central London was used by British spooks for 66 years.2019 April 5, Joseph Lee, “Drab London office block was GCHQ spy base”, in BBC. From the entry drab
  • It spooks the mossies on the overhead telegraph wire.2004, Troy Blacklaws, Karoo Boy, page 78. From the entry mossie
  • Immediately after the show, Tyler looks spooked.1999 June 18, “Rock and a hard place”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived…. From the entry gacked
  • Nine-tenths of the spooks we fear have no reality.1921 July 21, L.C. Barnes, “Antidotes for Romaphobia”, in The Watchman-Examiner: A National Baptist Paper, volume 9, number 29, page 919. From the entry Romaphobia
  • It was a cool night!” – but taken out of context with some of the questions above, it’s no surprise that parents are spooked.2014 February 19, Stuart Dredge, “Talking Angela app: here's what she's really saying to your kids”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The…. From the entry ROFL
  • This usually spooks them into battle.2014, Shaun Harrison, “Comment section of ‘Handling cold water carp’”, in AnglingLines.com, archived from the original on 19 Mar 2015. From the entry grassy
  • They didn't realize they'd be spooking many, including equinophobes (those who fear horses), aviophobes (those who fear flying) — and even aeronausiphobes (those who fear vomiting after air sickness).2009, Airways: A Global Review of Commercial Flight, volume 16, page 66. From the entry equinophobe
  • I had been spooked at the time, never imagining that at age 46 I would have a closetful of my dead husband’s clothes, and that it would seem right.2008 March 30, Patty Dann, “How We Got From Grief to Pancakes”, in New York Times. From the entry closetful
  • At least we get to see the spooks, goblins and witches which are roaming the city and that in itself is usually a treat for the victim.1948 October 30, Ed[ward] Mulligan, “Mulligan’s Stew: A weekly summary of Views and News of Mason County Merchants”, in The Ludington…. From the entry alleyful

Meaning of spook

  1. noun A ghost or phantom.
  2. noun A scare or fright.
  3. noun An undercover agent, spy, or intelligence analyst.

Full definition of spook

Questions about spook in a sentence

How do you use spook in a sentence?
Spook is used as a noun and verb. For example: “The building was haunted by a couple of spooks.”
What is a short sentence with spook?
“This usually spooks them into battle.”
What does spook mean?
Spook means a ghost or phantom.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: spook (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use spook in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/spook. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.