wraith

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

wraith, n. [Scot. wraith, warth; probably originally, a guardian angel, from Icel. vör&edh;r a warden, guardian, akin to E. ward. See Ward a guard.].

•  An apparition of a person in his exact likeness, seen before death, or a little after; hence, an apparition; a specter; a vision; an unreal image.  [1913 Webster]

  "She was uncertain if it were the gypsy or her wraith."  [1913 Webster]

  "O, hollow wraith of dying fame."  [1913 Webster]
•  Sometimes, improperly, a spirit thought to preside over the waters; -- called also water wraith.  M. G. Lewis.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

wraith, n.
1 a ghost or apparition.
2 the spectral appearance of a living person supposed to portend that person's death.

Derivative

wraithlike adj.

Etymology

16th-c. Sc.: orig. unkn.

THESAURUS

wraith

Doppelganger, Masan, apparition, appearance, astral, astral spirit, banshee, co-walker, control, departed spirit, disembodied spirit, double, doubleganger, duppy, dybbuk, eidolon, etheric double, fantasy, fetch, figure, form, ghost, grateful dead, guide, hant, haunt, idolum, image, immateriality, incorporeal, incorporeal being, incorporeity, larva, lemures, manes, materialization, oni, phantasm, phantasma, phantasmagoria, phantom, poltergeist, presence, revenant, shade, shadow, shape, shrouded spirit, specter, spectral ghost, spirit, spook, sprite, theophany, unsubstantiality, vision, waking dream, walking dead man, wandering soul, wildest dream, zombie

ROGET THESAURUS

wraith

Demon

N demon, daemon, demonry, demonology, evil genius, fiend, familiar, daeva, devil, bad spirit, unclean spirit, cacodemon, incubus, Eblis, shaitan, succubus, succuba, Frankenstein's monster, Titan, Shedim, Mephistopheles, Asmodeus, Moloch, Belial, Ahriman, fury, harpy, Friar Rush, vampire, ghoul, afreet, barghest, Loki, ogre, ogress, gnome, gin, jinn, imp, deev, lamia, bogie, bogeyman, bogle, nis, kobold, flibbertigibbet, fairy, brownie, pixy, elf, dwarf, urchin, Puck, Robin Goodfellow, leprechaun, Cluricaune, troll, dwerger, sprite, ouphe, bad fairy, nix, nixie, pigwidgeon, will-o'-the wisp, ghost, revenant, specter, apparition, spirit, shade, shadow, vision, hobglobin, goblin, orc, wraith, spook, boggart, banshee, loup-garou, lemures, evil eye, merman, mermaid, merfolk, siren, satyr, faun, manito, manitou, manitu, possession, demonic possession, diabolic possession, insanity, Maxwell's demon, demoniac, demonic, demonical, impish, demoniacal, fiendish, fiend-like, supernatural, weird, uncanny, unearthly, spectral, ghostly, ghost-like, elfin, elvin, elfish, elflike, haunted, pokerish, possessed, possessed by a devil, possessed by a demon, demonically.