What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Monster vs Ghost - What's the difference?

monster | ghost |

As nouns the difference between monster and ghost

is that monster is a terrifying and dangerous, wild or fictional creature while ghost is the spirit; the soul of man.

As verbs the difference between monster and ghost

is that monster is to make into a monster; to categorise as a monster; to demonise while ghost is to haunt; to appear to in the form of an apparition.

As an adjective monster

is very large; worthy of a monster.

monster

English

Alternative forms

* monstre (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A terrifying and dangerous, wild or fictional creature.
  • A bizarre or whimsical creature.
  • The children decided Grover was a cuddly monster .
  • An extremely cruel or antisocial person, especially a criminal.
  • Get away from those children, you meatheaded monster !
  • A horribly deformed person.
  • * 1837 , Medico-Chirurgical Review (page 465)
  • Deducting then these cases, we have a large proportion of imperfect foetuses, which belonged to twin conceptions, and in which, therefore, the circulation of the monster may have essentially depended on that of the sound child.
  • (figuratively) A badly behaved child, a brat.
  • Sit still, you little monster !
  • (informal) Something unusually large.
  • Have you seen those powerlifters on TV? They're monsters .
  • (informal) A prodigy; someone very talented in a specific domain.
  • That dude playing guitar is a monster .

    Derived terms

    * Cookie Monster * corporate monster * monstrosity * Frankenstein's monster * the Loch Ness monster * monster truck

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Very large; worthy of a monster.
  • He has a monster appetite.
    (Alexander Pope)
  • * '>citation
  • *
  • *
  • Synonyms

    * (very large) gigantic, monstrous

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make into a monster; to categorise as a monster; to demonise.
  • * 1983 , Michael Slater, Dickens and Women , page 290,
  • A Tale of Two Cities'' and ''Great Expectations feature four cases of women monstered by passion. Madame Defarge is ‘a tigress’, Mrs Joe a virago, Molly (Estella?s criminal mother) ‘a wild beast tamed’ and Miss Havisham a witch-like creature, a ghastly combination of waxwork and skeleton.
  • * 2005 , Diana Medlicott, The Unbearable Brutality of Being: Casual Cruelty in Prison and What This Tells Us About Who We Really Are'', Margaret Sönser Breen (editor), ''Minding Evil: Explorations of Human Iniquity , page 82,
  • The community forgives: this is in deep contrast to offenders that emerge from prison and remain stigmatised and monstered , often unable to get work or housing.
  • * 2011 , Stephen T. Asma, On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears , page 234,
  • Demonizing or monstering other groups has even become part of the cycle of American politics.
  • To behave as a monster to; to terrorise.
  • * 1968 , , Robert Lowell: A Collection of Critical Essays , page 145,
  • Animals in our world have been monstered' by human action as much as the free beasts of the pre-lapsarian state were ' monstered by the primal crime.
  • * 2009 , Darius Rejali, Torture and Democracy , page 292,
  • In 2002, American interrogators on the ground in Afghanistan developed a technique they called “monstering'.” The commander “instituted a new rule that a prisoner could be kept awake and in the booth for as long as an interrogator could last.” One “' monstering ” interrogator engaged in this for thirty hours.177
  • * 2010 , Joshua E. S. Phillips, None of Us Were Like This Before: American Soldiers and Torture , page 39,
  • The interrogators asked members of the 377th Military Police Company to help them with monstering , and the MPs complied.
  • (chiefly, Australia) To harass.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2009, date=January 31, author=Leo Schlink, title=Match looms as final for the ages, work=Herald Sun citation
  • , passage=Andy Roddick has been monstered by both Federer and Nadal and suffered a 6-2 7-5 7-5 semi-final loss at the hands of the Swiss champion. }}

    ghost

    English

    Alternative forms

    * ghoast (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (rare) The spirit; the soul of man.
  • * Spenser
  • Then gives her grieved ghost thus to lament.
  • The disembodied soul; the soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death; an apparition; a specter.
  • Everyone showed that the ghost of an old lady haunted this crypt.
  • *
  • The mighty ghosts of our great Harries rose.
  • * Coleridge
  • I thought that I had died in sleep/And was a blessed ghost .
  • *
  • Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.
  • Any faint shadowy semblance; an unsubstantial image; a phantom; a glimmering.
  • * Poe
  • Each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= William E. Conner
  • , title= An Acoustic Arms Race , volume=101, issue=3, page=206-7, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.}}
  • A false image formed in a telescope, camera, or other optical device by reflection from the surfaces of one or more lenses.
  • An unwanted image similar to and overlapping or adjacent to the main one on a television screen, caused by the transmitted image being received both directly and via reflection.
  • A ghostwriter.
  • (Internet) An unresponsive user on IRC, resulting from the user's client disconnecting without notifying the server.
  • (computing) An image of a file or hard disk.
  • (theater) An understudy.
  • (espionage) A covert (and deniable) agent.
  • The faint image that remains after an attempt to remove graffiti.
  • * 1992 , Maurice J. Whitford, Getting Rid of Graffiti (page 45)
  • Regardless of GRM used, graffiti ghosts persist. Protect cladding with surface coating or replace with graffiti resistant paint or laminate.
  • (video games) An opponent in a racing game that follows a previously recorded route, allowing players to compete against previous best times.
  • * 2012 , Keith Burgun, Game Design Theory: A New Philosophy for Understanding Games
  • This is also the case for some racing games (Super Mario Kart is a good example) that allow you to compete against your ghosts , which are precise recordings of your performance.
  • (label)
  • (label) the of
  • (label) perceived or listed but not
  • (label) of nature
  • (label)
  • Synonyms

    * (soul) soul, spirit * (spirit appearing after death) apparition, haint, phantom, revenant, specter/spectre, spook, wraith. * (faint shadowy semblance) glimmer, glimmering, glimpse, hint, inkling, spark, suggestion. * (false image in an optical device) * (false image on a television screen) : echo * (ghostwriter) ghostwriter * See also

    Derived terms

    * antighost * * ghost band * ghost bat * ghost bike * ghost catshark * ghost chili * ghost condensate * ghost crab * ghost dance * ghost detainee * ghosten * Ghost Festival * ghost flathead * ghost fleet * ghost frog * ghost fungus * ghost goal * ghost gum * ghost hunting * ghost imaging * ghost insect * ghost island * ghost knifefish * ghost light * ghost mark * ghost moth * ghost net * ghost note * ghost of a chance * ghost orchid * ghostly * ghost pepper * ghost ramp * ghost-riding * ghost runner * ghost ship * ghost shrimp * ghost sickness * ghost sign * ghost skate * ghost slug * ghost station * ghost story * ghost town * ghost train * ghost voting * ghost world * ghostwriter * give up the ghost * grey ghost * Holy Ghost

    See also

    * apparition * banshee * barghest * bogeyman * boggart * bogie * channelling * chimera * demon * doppelganger * draugr * duppy * ectoplasm * eidolon * exorcism * fantom * fetch * ghoul * haint * hallucination * haunt * illusion * incubus * lamia * larva * lemur * manes * mare * medium * mirage * necromancy * nightmare * phantasm * phantom * poltergeist * revenant * shade * shadow * specter * spectre * spirit * Spiritism * spook * sprite * soul * things that go bump in the night * vampire * visitant * wendigo * wight * will-o'-the-wisp * wraith * zombie

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To haunt; to appear to in the form of an apparition.
  • * 1606 , , Act II, sc. 6, l. 1221
  • since Julius Caesar, / Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted
  • (obsolete) To die; to expire.
  • (Sir Philip Sidney)
  • (ambitransitive) To ghostwrite.
  • (nautical) To sail seemingly without wind.
  • (computing) To copy a file or hard drive image.
  • (GUI) To gray out (a visual item) to indicate that it is unavailable.
  • * 1991 , Amiga User Interface Style Guide (page 76)
  • Whenever a menu or menu item is inappropriate or unavailable for selection, it should be ghosted . Never allow the user to select something that does nothing in response.
  • (internet) To forcibly disconnect an IRC user who is using one's reserved nickname.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=September 24 , author=David Ornstein , title=Arsenal 3 - 0 Bolton , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Arsenal came into the match under severe pressure and nerves were palpable early on as Pratley was brilliantly denied by Szczesny after ghosting in front of Kieran Gibbs}}

    Anagrams

    * (l), (l)