From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishraise the spectre of somethingraise the spectre of somethingliteraryNOTICE to make people feel afraid that something frightening might soon happen The violence has raised the spectre of civil war. → raise
Examples from the Corpus
raise the spectre of something• The attack has raised the spectre of another war between ice-cream operators in Glasgow.• The prospect of such telecoms competition raises the spectre of intervention by government or the courts.• The cultural move from an autonomous and independent sculpture back to the public sphere inevitably raises the spectre of popular culture.• Trevor Street had raised the spectre of the Bedford-St Pancras line. 