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Ghastly

6 dictionary results for: Ghastly

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ghast·ly

[gast-lee, gahst-] Pronunciation Key adjective, -li·er, -li·est, adverb

–adjective

1.	shockingly frightful or dreadful; horrible: a ghastly murder.

2.	resembling a ghost, esp. in being very pale: a ghastly look to his face.

3.	terrible; very bad: a ghastly error.

–adverb

4.	Also, ghast·li·ly, ghast·i·ly. in a ghastly manner; horribly; terribly.

5.	with a deathlike quality.

[Origin: 1275–1325; ME gastly; see ghast, -ly

]

—Related forms

ghast·li·ness, noun

—Synonyms 2. deathlike, pallid, cadaverous.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ghast·ly (gāst'lē) Pronunciation Key
adj. ghast·li·er, ghast·li·est

Inspiring shock, revulsion, or horror by or as if by suggesting death; terrifying: a ghastly murder.
Suggestive of or resembling ghosts.
Extremely unpleasant or bad: "in the most abominable passage of his ghastly little book" (Conor Cruise O'Brien).
Very serious or great: a ghastly error.

[Alteration (influenced by ghost) of Middle English gastli, from gasten, to terrify; see aghast.]

ghast'li·ness n., ghast'ly adv.

Synonyms: These adjectives describe what is shockingly repellent in aspect or appearance. Ghastly applies to what inspires shock or horror because it suggests death: ghastly wounds.
Grim refers to what repels because of its stern or fierce aspect or its harsh, relentless nature: the grim task of burying the victims of the earthquake.
Gruesome and grisly describe what horrifies or revolts because of its appalling crudity or utter inhumanity: a gruesome murder; grisly jokes about cadavers.
Macabre suggests the horror of death and decay: macabre stories about a madman.
Lurid sometimes refers to an unnatural hue suggestive of death: The ill patient's skin took on a lurid pallor.
More often, the term describes what shocks because of its terrible and ghastly nature: lurid crimes.
At other times, it merely refers to glaring and usually unsavory sensationalism: a lurid account of the accident.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
ghastly

c.1305, from O.E. gæstan "to torment, frighten" + -lich "-ly." Spelling with gh- developed 16c. from confusion with ghost.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

ghastly
adjective
1.	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"
2.	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" [syn: charnel]

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Ghastly

Gast\, v. t. [OE. gasten, g?sten to frighten, akin to Goth. usgaisjan. See Aghast, Ghastly, and cf. Gaze.] To make aghast; to frighten; to terrify. See Aghast. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Shak.

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