1
as in spies
a person who tries secretly to obtain information for one country in the territory of another usually unfriendly country
Russia recalled its spooks after the collapse of the Soviet Union
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in spirits
the soul of a dead person thought of especially as appearing to living people
Halloween is the night when spooks and goblins are said to roam abroad
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in scares
to strike with fear
the sudden noise spooked her out of her skin
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of spooks
Amber McBride, Literary Hub, 5 Nov. 2025
There are even more spooks in the follow-up season, The Haunting of Bly Manor.
—Kelsie Gibson, PEOPLE, 23 Oct. 2025
Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield are iconic characters that are wonderfully resurrected in this remake, the spooks are top notch, and the whole thing looks, sounds, and plays unbelievably.
—Oliver Brandt, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Aug. 2025
Usa Today, USA Today, 4 Nov. 2025
Noun
The translation squeaks and spooks with imagery of haunts and death.
—Amber McBride, Literary Hub, 5 Nov. 2025
There are even more spooks in the follow-up season, The Haunting of Bly Manor.
—Kelsie Gibson, PEOPLE, 23 Oct. 2025
Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield are iconic characters that are wonderfully resurrected in this remake, the spooks are top notch, and the whole thing looks, sounds, and plays unbelievably.
—Oliver Brandt, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Aug. 2025
Verb
That confidence spooks your rivals!
—Usa Today, USA Today, 4 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spooks
Noun
-
The Americans stars Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell as Soveit spies posing as an American family during the Cold War.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
30 Jan. 2026
-
One worker joined the FBI and made a career in counterintelligence, sniffing out Chinese spies.—
Hanna Rosin,
The Atlantic,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
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To see him in such high spirits, seemingly not dampened by being rested for the final half-hour as Chelsea continue to manage his minutes, was a rare treat.—
Cerys Jones,
New York Times,
8 Feb. 2026
-
Some readers may be old enough to remember the 1976 Bicentennial, which occurred during one of the city’s lowest ebbs and lifted everyone’s spirits.—
John Calvelli,
New York Daily News,
7 Feb. 2026
Verb
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When Nora starts to leave the room, Cantrell scares her, showing that Nora had the cream all over her face.—
Hannah Sacks,
PEOPLE,
3 Feb. 2026
-
The only person on this earth who scares me is God.—
Colin Millar,
New York Times,
1 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Garvey is just one of hundreds of anti-government operatives training agitators to interfere with federal law enforcement.—
Asra Q. Nomani , Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi,
FOXNews.com,
5 Feb. 2026
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His espionage thriller Lioness, which stars Nicole Kidman and Zoe Saldaña as CIA operatives, is in production on its third season.—
Uwa Ede-Osifo,
Dallas Morning News,
3 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The precarious state of her mind forces us to question whether Sylvia and Ted are ghosts, hallucinations or literary inventions sprung to life.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Feb. 2026
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The show’s greatest strength was never just the jump scares or the hidden ghosts tucked into background shots.—
Hanna Wickes,
Kansas City Star,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Like the 1987 Kurt Vonnegut novel from which the restaurant took its name, Bluebeard encourages guests to drop their guard, surround themselves with other people and try something that frightens them a little.—
USA TODAY NETWORK,
USA Today,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Her hysteria frightens me and demands to be taken care of.—
Stephanie Sengwe,
PEOPLE,
28 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Confrontations involving federal agents have routinely been captured on video from multiple angles, which later served to discount parts of the government’s narrative of events.—
Emma Tucker,
CNN Money,
15 Feb. 2026
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Democrats demanded new restrictions on federal immigration agents in exchange for voting to fund DHS after Alex Pretti was killed last month in Minneapolis.—
Riley Beggin,
Arkansas Online,
14 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Juggling demanding apparitions alongside staff burnout, family pressures and a coworker who seems to know more about her than expected, the series grounds its supernatural premise in the cultural specificity of the Filipino healthcare experience.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
3 Feb. 2026
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The image combines each planet's nightly positions during separate 2025 apparitions, assembled by astrophotographer Petr Horálek, a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador.—
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry,
Space.com,
9 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Spooks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spooks. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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