GHASTLY (ghastlier, ghastliest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: ghastlier    , ghastliest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ghastly mean? 

• GHASTLY (adjective)
  The adjective GHASTLY has 2 senses:

1. shockingly repellent; inspiring horror

2. gruesomely indicative of death or the dead

  Familiarity information: GHASTLY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GHASTLY (adjective)

Comparative: ghastlier   
Superlative: ghastliest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Shockingly repellent; inspiring horror

Synonyms:

ghastly; grim; grisly; gruesome; macabre; sick

Context example:

macabre tortures conceived by madmen

Similar:

alarming (frightening because of an awareness of danger)

Derivation:

ghastliness (the quality of being ghastly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Gruesomely indicative of death or the dead

Synonyms:

charnel; ghastly; sepulchral

Context example:

the sepulchral darkness of the catacombs

Similar:

offensive (unpleasant or disgusting especially to the senses)

Derivation:

ghastliness (the quality of being ghastly)

 Context examples 

“Very possibly! Very possibly!” cried Mr. Pinner with a ghastly smile.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She was very, very pale—almost ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing her teeth in somewhat of prominence.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He was looking very bad—quite ghastly.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The image of Clerval was for ever before me, ghastly and murdered.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

His face was ghastly white, twitching with suppressed pain. He looked very sick.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a glitter of moisture on his brow.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His mirth was hoarse and ghastly, like a raven's croak, and the sick wolf joined him, howling lugubriously.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Presently I stood within that clean, bright kitchen—on the very hearth—trembling, sickening; conscious of an aspect in the last degree ghastly, wild, and weather-beaten.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But your appearance, Holmes—your ghastly face?

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At every jump of the schooner, red-cap slipped to and fro, but—what was ghastly to behold—neither his attitude nor his fixed teeth-disclosing grin was anyway disturbed by this rough usage.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)