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