You meet someone at a party and exchange numbers. You go on a few dates, and things seem to be going well. You think things are moving forward—and then you never hear from that person again. They won't answer your texts, phone calls, chat messages. They've ghosted.
The electronic aspect of ghosting is clear—refusing to answer or even read texts, letting calls go to voicemail
The "disappear" ghost is based on an earlier meaning of the verb ghost, "to leave suddenly and without saying goodbye," which we've traced to 2004. And this ghost is based on yet an earlier use of the verb, "to move silently like a ghost." That ghost goes back to the 1800s.
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