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# spooky

«spooky» in Mova's school dictionary: **strange and a bit frightening, as if there might be ghosts** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (spooky, spookier, spookiest)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Spooky means strange and a bit frightening, as if there might be ghosts. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spooky/#m1)

2) (informal) Spooky can mean strangely surprising, like an odd coincidence. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spooky/#m2)

3) (informal, of an animal) Easily frightened or nervous, as in a spooky horse. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spooky/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

A favourite word for Halloween, ghost stories and dark places: it tells the reader to feel a shiver, often in a fun way. In everyday talk «that's spooky» is said about coincidences. Phrases: «spooky house», «spooky story», «spooky coincidence», «a bit spooky».

### examples

- The old house on the hill looks spooky at night. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spooky/#x1)
- We told spooky stories around the campfire. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spooky/#x2)
- Our classroom is decorated with spooky bats for Halloween. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spooky/#x3)
- It's spooky that we both drew the same picture! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spooky/#x4)
- The woods were spooky and silent. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spooky/#x5)
- The pony is spooky and jumps at plastic bags. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spooky/#x6)
- The spookiest part of the film was the creaking door. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spooky/#x7)

### note

Comes from «spook» (informal for ghost; also slang for a spy). Milder and more playful than «terrifying». Spelling: spookier, spookiest (y changes to i). The word «spook» is also an old offensive slur in the US in one sense, so use «spooky» and «spook» meaning ghost only.

### In the corpora

- [She puts the radio on «so it's not spooky».](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/498-the-only-child-a-quiet-house/3/)
- [Spooky stories are fine as fun, but stop when someone is truly frightened.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/26-sleepovers-and-spooky-stories/15/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «spooky» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spooky/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.