ghost town
31
4.9
- noun
- /ɡoʊst taʊn/
:
pueblo fantasma
- Shelby Oaks has been a ghost town since the late 90s.
- become a ghost town
- virtual ghost towns
It was like a ghost town, isolated.
- It was like a ghost town, isolated.
- And I arrived there and it's like a ghost town because everybody is in Afghanistan.
- I get to the campus and it is a ghost town.
- So I don't think that Hollywood will ever become a ghost town, but it's really a town of high tech.
- If he comes in, Carson City will become a ghost town and the Christmas season will be cancelled.
- It's it's like a ghost town, the whole country at night.
- I'm in the middle of the desert at this ghost town things called Nelson.
- But obviously where I grew up it was just like fucking ghost town bro, because like pure old Victorian houses bro.
Examples
-
It's practically a ghost town now.
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Doug paused at the exhibit that detailed the history of the ghost town.
Fiction book (1994) -
You guys, it's a ghost town over here.
-
If they did, this city would be a ghost town by now.
Fiction book (1995) -
Would they leave him here in the ghost town forever?
Fiction book (1994) -
This old ghost town has been deserted for over a century.
-
But in just 12 short months, the place known as America's spring break capitol has become a virtual ghost town.
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After its inhabitants were forced out in 1917, Iosepa became a ghost town.
Academic text (2008) -
San Celeritas, New Mexico, is a ghost town in the Land of Enchantment.
-
Shelby Oaks has been a ghost town since the late 90s.
Synonyms
A deserted place with very few people or little activity
A house that feels empty and full of old memories
Antonyms
How Populated
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a deserted or abandoned town' is directly inferable from combining 'ghost' (suggesting absence, emptiness or a remnant) with 'town'; the noun–noun compound pattern and the straightforward metaphor make the sense predictable. This concept and phrasing appear in many languages (e.g., 'ciudad fantasma', 'ville fantôme'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will usually understand it.
Etymology
The phrase ghost town comes from the image of a town left so empty it seems full of ghosts. So, it now means a place that is 'deserted' or 'abandoned'.