specter

1. A ghostly apparition, a phantom. [from 17th c.]Examples: "A specter haunted the cemetery at the old Vasquez manor."; "Nevertheleſſe, they which ſhould ſee thoſe Iſles thus to moove in this manner, not knowing before that the ſame were naturall: they would entertaine many and diverſe apprehenſions in their fantaſie, & would imagine that they ſawe a thing very ſtrange and prodigious, and ſuch as did very neere approach to the nature of ſome Specter [translating spectre] and viſion."Synonyms: wraith, spookUS

2. (figuratively) A threatening mental image; an unpleasant prospect [from 18th c.]Examples: "A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this specter: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies."; "Already, the specter of higher interest rates was causing the housing market to seize up."; "Thailand's Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin for appointing to his cabinet a former lawyer who served jail time, raising the spectre of more political upheaval and a reset of the governing alliance."USfiguratively

3. (entomology) Any of certain species of dragonfly of the genus Boyeria, family Aeshnidae. [from 20th c.]US