GHASTLY

ghastly, grim, grisly, gruesome, macabre, sick

(adjective) shockingly repellent; inspiring horror; “ghastly wounds”; “the grim aftermath of the bombing”; “the grim task of burying the victims”; “a grisly murder”; “gruesome evidence of human sacrifice”; “macabre tales of war and plague in the Middle ages”; “macabre tortures conceived by madmen”

charnel, ghastly, sepulchral

(adjective) gruesomely indicative of death or the dead; “a charnel smell came from the chest filled with dead men’s bones”; “ghastly shrieks”; “the sepulchral darkness of the catacombs”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

ghastly (comparative ghastlier, superlative ghastliest)

Like a ghost in appearance; death-like; pale; pallid; dismal.

Horrifyingly shocking.

Extremely bad.

Synonyms

• (sickly pale): See also pallid

• (horrifyingly shocking): lurid

Adverb

ghastly (not comparable)

In a ghastly manner.

Source: Wiktionary


Ghast"ly, a. [Compar. Ghastlier; superl. Ghastliest.] Etym: [OE. gastlich, gastli, fearful, causing fear, fr. gasten to terrify, AS. gæstan. Cf. Aghast, Gast, Gaze, Ghostly.]

1. Like a ghost in appearance; deathlike; pale; pallid; dismal. Each turned his face with a ghastly pang. Coleridge. His face was so ghastly that it could scarcely be recognized. Macaulay.

2. Horrible; shocking; dreadful; hideous. Mangled with ghastly wounds through plate and mail. Milton.

Ghast"ly, adv.

Definition: In a ghastly manner; hideously. Staring full ghastly like a strangled man. Shak.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

8 January 2025

SYCAMORE

(noun) Eurasian maple tree with pale grey bark that peels in flakes like that of a sycamore tree; leaves with five ovate lobes yellow in autumn


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Coffee Trivia

Decaffeinated coffee comes from a chemical process that takes out caffeine from the beans. Pharmaceutical and soda companies buy the extracted caffeine.

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