Word for "to appear suddenly"?
The only word I can think of is pop up (and maybe materialized).
Are the other words?
Example sentence:
The ghost __ in front of her.
Materialise will fit in your sentence:
If an object materializes, it appears suddenly:
- Suddenly a lorry appeared in front of her - it seemed to materialize out of nowhere.
(Cambridge Dictionary)
see usage examples here:
The creature paused to listen, its twisted, bat- snouted face grimacing. Mrs. Seward's ghost materialized beside that of her killer
Then a blue sheet, in the shape of a ghost, materialized before them. "
How about spring up (Merriam-Webster):
: to grow or appear suddenly ▪ The weeds sprang up overnight. ▪ New housing developments are springing up all over the state.
References to ghosts springing up in literature (emphasis mine):
It was, however, all in vain; a veritable ghost sprung up, seized him […]
(‘A Restored Invalid’, The Metropolis of The Water Cure, 1858.)Meanwhile, Thalia’s classmates were wide-eyed and petrified, as if their long-lost teacher were a ghost sprung up behind them, mouth full of dry yolk.
(Tom Bradley, Killing Bryce, 1999.)
Would you accept a made up word if it was from a well-known series of books, and hence understandable to most people? I suggest apparate:
Verb
- (neologism) To appear (magically); to teleport to or from a place.
wiktionary
It is from the Harry Potter series, and is clearly inspired by words such as "appear" and "apparition".
Some choices I like:
arose: The ghost arose in front of her.
Basically a minor variation on 'sprung up'.
erupt: The ghost erupted in front of her.
Maintains the desired quickness, if not violence, the author is seeking with "spring up", although I think it would be better to restructure the phrase a bit to make this fit more sensibly, such as "the ghost erupted from the ether before her."
coalesce: The ghost coalesced in front of her.
This doesn't really maintain the sense of quickness as 'sprung up', if anything it sounds rather lazy, but i think it's a fitting choice for a ghost. It has this suggestion of the ghost's form pooling inwards after being spread out, similar to materialize but has a more poetic feel to it.
Snapped into view could work similarly to sprung or popped up