How to Use spook in a Sentence

spook

1 of 2 noun
  • Halloween is the night when spooks and goblins are said to roam abroad.
  • Russia recalled its spooks after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
  • Still, this year has been a tough one for the spook business.
    — Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press, 15 Oct. 2020
  • There’s still time to get your spook on, or snag that perfect pumpkin.
    — oregonlive, 21 Oct. 2020
  • Even those who plan to forgo trick-or-treating can find ways to get their spook on this year.
    — Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY, 21 Oct. 2020
  • The translation squeaks and spooks with imagery of haunts and death.
    — Amber McBride, Literary Hub, 5 Nov. 2025
  • This detail leapt off the page for me, and probably for a bunch of our spooks as well.
    — Robert Bateman, Esquire, 6 June 2017
  • Bring the spook to your living room with this set of four cotton pillow covers.
    — Larry Stansbury, Good Housekeeping, 28 Sep. 2022
  • Top water bite has started early and late, try spooks, poppers, or buzz baits.
    — Tyler Mahoney special To The Star, kansascity, 11 July 2018
  • The best way to get a quick spook in before the end of the day is by lounging in your living room with a good flick.
    — Samantha Olson, Seventeen, 12 Apr. 2023
  • Take part in a cross between a bar crawl and a ghost tour just in time for the ghouls and spooks of the Halloween season.
    — Shelbie Lynn Bostedt, RedEye Chicago, 8 Sep. 2017
  • Early-morning light on a field blind can cast a 20-foot shadow and spook birds from a hundred yards.
    — T. Edward Nickens, Field & Stream, 11 Oct. 2017
  • Some kids cower in fear when encountering spooks and frights in the Halloween store.
    — Ashley Hoffman, Time, 15 Oct. 2019
  • Remember that movement spooks turkeys more than anything else.
    — Bruce Brady, Outdoor Life, 8 Apr. 2026
  • Halloween looks spook-tacular with sunshine during the day and highs in the lower to mid-70s.
    — Dallas News, 30 Oct. 2022
  • There are even more spooks in the follow-up season, The Haunting of Bly Manor.
    — Kelsie Gibson, PEOPLE, 23 Oct. 2025
  • Halloween may be over, but the spooks and scares are still coming, of all places in the form of a new Netflix comedy special.
    — Gerrad Hall, EW.com, 6 Nov. 2019
  • Anthropic spooks cyber firms; eyes IPO.
    — John Kell, Fortune, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Its most notorious thugs have been arrested, some spooks have been sacked and the rest are getting human-rights training.
    — The Economist, 10 Jan. 2018
  • Turn the spook factor up a notch on your Halloween front porch decor with this DIY black candle urn.
    — Emily Vanschmus, Better Homes & Gardens, 10 Aug. 2023
  • Is this the emotional support of a spouse, an attempt to derail a competing spook, or something in the middle?
    — Daniel D'addario, Time, 28 Mar. 2018
  • Add in artifacts and sounds, like hearing a funeral march played on the Reginaphone, and your evening will have some spook.
    — Domenica Bongiovanni, The Indianapolis Star, 14 Oct. 2021
  • In Bamford’s eyes, much if not all the Russiagate story was a put-up job by spooks, journos, and politicians.
    — Tim Weiner, The New Republic, 27 Mar. 2023
  • If the high cost of it all is more trick than treat for you, here are several ways to turn your already smart home into a spook-tacularly genius haunted house.
    — Jennifer Jolly, USA TODAY, 28 Oct. 2021
  • Many are based in Western countries or their allies, and employ former spooks who learned their craft in intelligence agencies.
    — The Economist, 12 Dec. 2019
  • New this year, digital projections by Ashley Reser and Tony Reser put extra spooks on stage.
    — Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 30 Oct. 2019
  • And for those truly looking for a spook, stay overnight at the Tarrytown House Estate, believed to have rooms haunted by ghosts.
    — Rachel Chang, Travel + Leisure, 15 Aug. 2023
  • Bakeries across San Antonio have started to get their spook on as the city settles into the Halloween season.
    — Paul Stephen, San Antonio Express-News, 20 Oct. 2021
  • Such spooks are the most difficult to train and deploy, and losing so many of them all at once was among the biggest failures in the history of Russian espionage.
    — Simon Shuster, Time, 8 Mar. 2018
  • Two teens got a solid spook when a hungry bear stumbled into their cabin and helped themselves to the food in the fridge, including some pints of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.
    — Kelli Bender, PEOPLE.com, 22 Oct. 2019

spook

2 of 2 verb
  • The noise spooked the cat.
  • The little girl was spooked by scary masks.
  • Didn’t want to spook him, first of all.
    — Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025
  • See the video here — but don’t blame me if you get spooked!
    — Alexandra Banner, CNN Money, 22 Oct. 2025
  • Much to my surprise, the rams didn’t spook.
    — Tim Kelly, Outdoor Life, 4 Sep. 2025
  • They might get spooked and panic-sell right when things are at their worst.
    — Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2025
  • The stock market got spooked, a sign of its fragility.
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 2 Mar. 2026
  • The judge got a little spooked and kicked it down to a lower court.
    — Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair, 30 Apr. 2026
  • Burlingame, then only 11, was spooked.
    — Dominique Mosbergen, Time, 18 Nov. 2025
  • The thing that spooked me most in all this though, wasn’t the bad guys being bad guys.
    — Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 23 Jan. 2026
  • The horse then got spooked and ran off, while the driver chased after it.
    — Katie Houlis, CBS News, 20 June 2026
  • At the same time, wealthy consumers could be spooked by volatile stock markets.
    — Robert Frank, CNBC, 27 Mar. 2026
  • In many cases, the ships got spooked, pulling up their gear and fleeing the scene.
    — Ian Urbina, TIME, 26 Oct. 2023
  • That could spook investors, many of whom hopped on the crypto train last year as prices spiked.
    — Chris Morris, Fortune, 6 Jan. 2022
  • The hunters in our survey encountered a ton of deer and spooked very few.
    — Alex Robinson, Outdoor Life, 31 Jan. 2024
  • Get ready to spook friends and family with these eerie pumpkins.
    — Sarah Martens, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Oct. 2025
  • The suspect got spooked by the resident and fled.
    — Anne Gelhaus, Mercury News, 8 Jan. 2026
  • Dogs that aren’t trained yet, or who spook around strangers, might not be ready for a hotel visit.
    — Washington Post, 1 July 2021
  • This movie does have some scary moments, but not so scary you’ll be spooked by things that go bump in the night.
    — Samantha Sasso, Vulture, 9 June 2023
  • Don’t get too spooked – that’s just an animal looking back at you.
    — Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 26 Oct. 2023
  • The black creepy-crawly stands out against the orange to spook visitors of all ages.
    — Sarah Martens, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Oct. 2025
  • One poor call won’t spook an aggressive breeding tom.
    — Bruce Brady, Outdoor Life, 8 Apr. 2026
  • That could cause the Fed to not cut rates and could cause investors to become spooked.
    — Zachary Halaschak, Washington Examiner, 28 Dec. 2023
  • But something new has begun to spook investors.
    — Elizabeth Robinson, NBC news, 24 June 2026
  • The couple tries not to spook hope away with too big of a reality check.
    — Elizabeth Hernandez, Denver Post, 26 Apr. 2026
  • China tends to spook the crypto world, giving traders a reason to sell.
    — Kenneth Rapoza, Forbes, 11 Oct. 2021
  • The plan fell apart when local commissioners got spooked by the cost.
    — Audrey Dutton, ProPublica, 26 Aug. 2025
  • The whipping and snapping of a windsock may also spook them.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 11 June 2026
  • When trick-or-treaters press the doorbell, a green eye will pop out to give them a once-over and spook them with scary sounds.
    — Larry Stansbury, Good Housekeeping, 28 Sep. 2022
  • This may signal that condo laws are no longer spooking would-be buyers.
    — Catherine Odom, Miami Herald, 29 Dec. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'spook.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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