ghastly
shockingly frightful or dreadful; horrible: a ghastly murder.
resembling a ghost, especially in being very pale: a ghastly look to his face.
terrible; very bad: a ghastly error.
Also ghast·li·ly [gast-li-lee], /ˈgæst lɪ li/, ghast·i·ly [gast-i-lee] /ˈgæst ɪ li/ . in a ghastly manner; horribly; terribly.
with a deathlike quality.
Origin of ghastly
1Other words for ghastly
Other words from ghastly
- ghast·li·ness, noun
Words Nearby ghastly
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use ghastly in a sentence
The nation can either accept his ideas or risk ghastly consequences.
‘America in Retreat’: Why Neo-Isolationism Exploded Under Obama and What We Can Do About It | James Kirchick | December 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd so those closest to the ghastly virus remain deaf to hashtags, and silent.
Watching her drown her sorrows in hooch and then get beat up by Crazy Eyes in the showers was ghastly…but great television.
Inside ‘Orange Is the New Black’ S2, Eps. 6-12: About That Shocking Incest Scene | Kevin Fallon, Marlow Stern | June 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTLike Carina, she remembers a ghastly scene once the American soldiers withdrew.
Remembering the Fall of Saigon and Vietnam’s Mass ‘Boat People’ Exodus | Katie Baker | April 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt was a ghastly tragedy that rattled a nation and became a byword for anti-Semitism in France.
A Horror Story of True-Life Anti-Semitism in France | Tracy McNicoll | April 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The explanation of his mysterious earlier moods offered itself with a clarity that was ghastly.
The Wave | Algernon BlackwoodIn a paroxysm of rage and fear, he gave the final order, and the Well of Cawnpore thereby attained its ghastly immortality.
The Red Year | Louis TracyNative rumors had brought the news of the massacre at Cawnpore, though the ghastly tragedy of the Well was yet to come.
The Red Year | Louis TracyBut the simulacra of certain ghastly events that took place under that roof in past days still continue.
Three More John Silence Stories | Algernon BlackwoodHe could not fail to note the different effects he and his cousin produced in her—the ghastly difference.
The Wave | Algernon Blackwood
British Dictionary definitions for ghastly
/ (ˈɡɑːstlɪ) /
informal very bad or unpleasant
deathly pale; wan
informal extremely unwell; ill: they felt ghastly after the party
terrifying; horrible
unhealthily; sickly: ghastly pale
archaic in a horrible or hideous manner
Origin of ghastly
1Derived forms of ghastly
- ghastliness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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