ghastly

adjective ghast·ly \ ˈgast-lē \

|Updated on: 18 Jun 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: ghastly in a Sentence

Definition of ghastly

ghastlier; ghastliest

1 a : terrifyingly horrible to the senses : frightening

a ghastly crime

b : intensely unpleasant, disagreeable, or objectionable

such a life seems ghastly in its emptiness and sterility
—Aldous Huxley

2 : resembling a ghost

3 obsolete : filled with fear

4 : very great

a ghastly mistake

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ghastliness

noun

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ghastly

adverb

See ghastly defined for English-language learners

See ghastly defined for kids

Examples of ghastly in a Sentence

You're making a ghastly mistake.
His room was a ghastly mess.

Recent Examples of ghastly from the Web

Buy Photo For more than a year, rain poured through a ghastly hole in the Pottstown Mercury’s roof, staining walls and damaging desks on the third floor.

— bob fernandez, Philly.com, "Philly's Digital First papers face relentless cuts, potential 'lights-out scenario'," 15 May 2018
Looking back at some of those ghastly uniforms, Ben Zobrist’s black high-top spikes hardly seem like a crime.

— joe knowles, chicagotribune.com, "Baseball’s weirdest uniforms get shredded in ‘Winning Ugly’," 22 May 2018
Instead, plumbers at a clinic in Kerala made a ghastly discovery: A two-day-old baby had been flushed down the toilet, with her placenta still intact.

— amanda erickson, Washington Post, "2-day-old baby girl found flushed down the toilet in India," 16 Apr. 2018
Some of the images were ghastlier than the raw numbers.

— brian costa, WSJ, "Augusta National, the Home of Golf’s Masters, Still Has Bite," 7 Apr. 2018
Once the Act came into effect, hundreds of women petitioned to get away from ghastly marriages they had been forced to endure for decades.

— diane atkinson, Time, "Meghan Markle Should Walk Down the Aisle Alone and Not Pass From One 'Owner' to Another," 18 May 2018
To mask this ghastly color, the distilleries added chalk, eggs, flour, water, molasses, and other substances.

— daniel fernandez, Smithsonian, "The Surprisingly Intolerant History of Milk," 11 May 2018
This ghastly misstep would be a national humiliation in most countries, but with everything else that is currently unspooling in the U.S., it will probably not be noticed by 80% of Americans until the day the tournament kicks off next month.

— roger bennett, WSJ, "Why You Should Watch the World Cup," 11 May 2018
But even if Till did grab Donham and make lewd comments, the ghastly punishment for this infraction in no way fit the crime.

— elizabeth wellington, Philly.com, "Please, Camille Cosby: I respectfully ask that you stop it | Elizabeth Wellington," 3 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ghastly.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of ghastly

Middle English gastly, from gasten to terrify — more at gast

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

ghastly Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of ghastly

ghastly, grisly, gruesome, macabre, lurid mean horrifying and repellent in appearance or aspect. ghastly suggests the terrifying aspects of corpses and ghosts.