a town permanently abandoned by its inhabitants, as because of a business decline or because a nearby mine has been worked out.
Origin
1870-75
Examples from the web for ghost town
Walk through a ghost town and underground mine, recreated with precise detail.
Nevertheless, it was nearly destroyed by fire and bombardment, and was a ghost town by war's end.
The cormorants have turned this place into a ghost town.
Away from its centre, where police answered protesters' dynamite with tear gas, the capital was a ghost town.
The ghost town has several residences and barrack-type accommodations, as well as the remains of a few commercial establishments.
You've entered a ghost town, a town deserted after its valuable natural resource's have been used up.
Ten years ago the original village was becoming a ghost town of derelict buildings and deserted dirt roads.
Set among rugged mountains, the lake and abandoned ghost town are accessible by road from spring through fall.
He never imagined he'd end up living in a virtual ghost town.
Today, silver mining has played out and all that remains is a ghost town.
British Dictionary definitions for ghost town
ghost town
noun
1.
a deserted town, esp one in the western US that was formerly a boom town
ghost town in Culture
ghost town definition
A town, especially a boomtown in the old American West, that has been completely abandoned and deserted: “If you drive through the desert, you can still see the main street of Dry Gulch, a ghost town.”
Idioms and Phrases with ghost town
ghost town
A once thriving town that has been completely abandoned, as in Many of the old mining communities are ghost towns now. This idiom implies that there are no living people left in town. [ First half of 1900s ]