ghosting

What it means

"Ghosting" is the act of suddenly cutting off all contact with someone — no replies, no explanation — usually in a dating or friendship context. The person who does it is said to "ghost" the other, leaving them confused without closure.

Words like “ghosting” are exactly the kind of vocabulary our English vocabulary size test measures — find out how many English words you know.

Examples

• We had three great dates and then he started ghosting me.
• Don't just leave her on read, ghosting is so cruel.
• I got ghosted by a recruiter after two interviews.
• She ghosted the whole group chat for a month.

Where it comes from

The term took off around 2015–2016 as online dating apps made it easy to vanish on someone. It's named for the way a person disappears like a ghost, and quickly became standard dating vocabulary.

Related slang