1
as in gruesome
extremely disturbing or repellent
a ghastly murder that shocked even hard-bitten detectives
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in intense
extreme in degree, power, or effect
I'm afraid that there's been a ghastly misunderstanding
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in terrifying
causing fear
a ghastly crime that made local residents afraid to go out at night
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ghastly
Threads supplied haunting, ghastly images of what those concepts would look like in the real world.
—
Tom Nichols, The Atlantic, 10 July 2025
The market is just full of butcher shops, with the most ghastly whole pigs and halves of steers hanging from horrible hooks.
—John Updike, New Yorker, 11 July 2025
Regretfully, my brother—probably the only person who might’ve been able to look past my cowboy getup and glue-on horseshoe moustache and ghastly wax-like exterior—was being punished at home for stealing cigarettes.
—Hazlitt, 18 June 2025
Against the song’s bombastic production, Lorde details the ghastly side of starvation, including rotten teeth and shattered mirrors.
—Maya Georgi, Rolling Stone, 26 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for ghastly
Tom Nichols, The Atlantic, 10 July 2025
The market is just full of butcher shops, with the most ghastly whole pigs and halves of steers hanging from horrible hooks.
—John Updike, New Yorker, 11 July 2025
Regretfully, my brother—probably the only person who might’ve been able to look past my cowboy getup and glue-on horseshoe moustache and ghastly wax-like exterior—was being punished at home for stealing cigarettes.
—Hazlitt, 18 June 2025
Against the song’s bombastic production, Lorde details the ghastly side of starvation, including rotten teeth and shattered mirrors.
—Maya Georgi, Rolling Stone, 26 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for ghastly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ghastly
Adjective
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The gruesome deaths of the two beloved teens shook and forever changed the small Indiana community.—
Kristine Phillips,
IndyStar,
1 Aug. 2025
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The list includes redshirt junior nose tackle Jamari Lyons, back from a gruesome ankle injury, athletic 6-foot-2 ½, 244-pound sophomore linebacker Aaron Chiles and redshirt cornerback Cormani McClain.—
Edgar Thompson,
The Orlando Sentinel,
30 July 2025
Adjective
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The community’s response is intense: panicked and bereaved mothers and fathers turn on Justine, indirectly a victim herself; misguided outrage blinds them to the real menace operating unimpeded in their midst.—
Andy Crump,
Time,
9 Aug. 2025
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As climate change fuels longer, more intense fire seasons, officials warn that the crisis may persist for weeks.—
Amanda Castro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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The previous version of the immersive attraction brought guests face to face with the terrifying flickering TV screen, the menacing beast from beyond, and the pool filled with floating corpses.—
Simon Thompson,
Forbes.com,
7 Aug. 2025
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Girlie joins a team of content moderators who are mostly women of color, swiping through terrifying scenes at the company’s offices in Las Vegas for enough money to keep their families afloat.—
Sarah Rose Etter,
The Atlantic,
6 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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The Yogurt Shop Murders is based on a true story of a horrific crime back in 1991, one that many people may not have heard of.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
7 Aug. 2025
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The situation for the hostages is absolutely horrific as well.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
3 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Residents learn to care for critically ill patients, a process that demands intensive hours, extensive study outside of work to prepare for cases, and the emotional resilience to confront life-and-death situations daily.—
Richard Menger MD MPA,
Forbes.com,
18 Aug. 2025
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In Mississippi, intensive early-literacy tutoring, among other reforms, helped raise fourth-grade reading scores to above the national average.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
15 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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The sandwich, featuring ground meat—generally beef—suspended in a thick, sweet tomatoey sauce, has become an avatar of the horrible school lunch, a cliché that tends to go along with hairnets, greasy aprons, and other elements of canteen grotesquerie.—
Helen Rosner,
New Yorker,
17 Aug. 2025
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The stories have overflowed with a horrible, glorious narrative abundance.—
Lyz Lenz,
Rolling Stone,
16 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Perhaps the biggest moment was her shocking termination as principal, which not only upset her fictional colleagues but also viewers.—
Giana Levy,
Variety,
14 Aug. 2025
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In a shocking turn of events, Weems is Wednesday’s new spirit guide, or figure from beyond death who will help Wednesday with her psychic visions.—
Dessi Gomez,
Deadline,
14 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Whether your team is in the middle of a winning run or mired in terrible form, five minutes looking at the standings can convince you that a hundred different futures are possible.—
Anantaajith Raghuraman,
New York Times,
14 Aug. 2025
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While the latter is known for its legendarily terrible English localization, both of these were highly innovative horizontal scrolling shmups for their time.—
Ollie Barder,
Forbes.com,
14 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ghastly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ghastly. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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