ghosting / to ghost

verb

- Ghosting is breaking off a relationship (often an intimate relationship) by ceasing all communication and contact with the former partner without any apparent warning or justification, as well as ignoring the former partner’s attempts to reach out or communicate.

- In television, ghosting is where a replica of the transmitted image is superimposed on top of the main image. It is often caused when a TV signal travels by two different paths to a receiving antenna, with a slight difference in timing.

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ORIGIN

The term is attested since at least 2011, in the context of online exchanges and became popular by 2015 through numerous articles on high-profile celebrity relationship dissolutions, and then went on to be widely used.

It has been the subject of numerous articles and discussions on dating and relationships in various media. It was included in the Collins English Dictionary in 2015

adapted from Wiki

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TALKING POINT

Ghosting isn’t new—people have long done disappearing acts—but years ago this kind of behavior was considered limited to a certain type of scoundrel. In today’s dating culture being ghosted is a phenomenon that approximately 50 percent of men and women have experienced. Despite ghosting's commonality, the emotional effects can be devastating, and particularly damaging to those who already have fragile self-esteem.

Psychology Today

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SYNONYMS

ostracism, social rejection, stonewalling, blanking, to give someone the cold shoulder (the silent treatment)

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PRACTICE OWAD in a conversation today, say something like:

"People who GHOST are primarily focused on avoiding their own emotional discomfort and they aren’t thinking about how it makes the other person feel."