variants also grewsome

Synonym Chooser

How is the word gruesome different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of gruesome are ghastly, grisly, lurid, and macabre. While all these words mean "horrifying and repellent in appearance or aspect," grisly and gruesome suggest additionally the results of extreme violence or cruelty.

an unusually grisly murder
suffered a gruesome death

Where would ghastly be a reasonable alternative to gruesome?

The words ghastly and gruesome can be used in similar contexts, but ghastly suggests the terrifying aspects of corpses and ghosts.

a ghastly accident

How do lurid and gruesome relate to one another?

Lurid adds to gruesome the suggestion of shuddering fascination with violent death and especially with murder.

the lurid details of a crime

When can macabre be used instead of gruesome?

While the synonyms macabre and gruesome are close in meaning, macabre implies a morbid preoccupation with the physical aspects of death.

a macabre tale of premature burial

Examples of gruesome in a Sentence

These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Recent Examples on the Web Soon after disappearing or getting killed off, teens Alice and Dan take center stage as they're trapped in another series of gruesome events. Michael Lee Simpson, EW.com, 22 Oct. 2024 Players must guide Vivian around the shadows of the school, investigating every corner, wall, and drawer for clues not just about progressing, but about what happened behind a gruesome fire years prior that took the lives of multiple students. Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 22 Oct. 2024 Give us a massacre almost as epic and gruesome as the one that took place when Victor was a kid. Erik Kain, Forbes, 21 Oct. 2024 The entity feeds on trauma, and presumably, the trauma from seeing a person die, often in gruesome ways, is enough for the entity to jump into a new host. Lissete Lanuza Sáenz, StyleCaster, 21 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for gruesome 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gruesome
Adjective
  • Options like Call of Cthulhu and Delta Green allows players to investigate strange mysteries, encounter horrific scenes and wrestle with their own sanity.
    Rob Wieland, Forbes, 29 Oct. 2024
  • What followed was two months of horrific treatment.
    Fox News Staff, Fox News, 25 Oct. 2024
Adjective
  • Give Back To Maui After the horrible 2023 wildfires in Maui, The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua reopened on October 8, 2023, and it’s been going strong and welcoming guests with open arms since then.
    Robin Raven, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024
  • This is also a great matchup against a horrible Jaguars passing defense.
    David Faris, Newsweek, 3 Nov. 2024
Adjective
  • This statistic is downright shocking as, anecdotally speaking, the men's hair in Spain appears particularly full and lush at glance—noticeably more so than in the United States, France or Italy.
    Jessica Ourisman, Forbes, 24 Oct. 2024
  • Scandal is up there with the most shocking, unpredictable network dramas of all time, but the death of Dan Bucatinsky's James Novak gave shock a whole new meaning.
    Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 22 Oct. 2024
Adjective
  • That came about in the family’s own dynamic in recovering from this terrible thing that had happened to them as a group.
    Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Oct. 2024
  • Marissa and Ramses went from a sure thing to a terrible breakup in the last batch of Love is Blind episodes.
    Lissete Lanuza Sáenz, StyleCaster, 24 Oct. 2024
Adjective
  • Why has simply being awake in a comfortable bed become such an awful situation?
    Korin Miller, Health, 1 Nov. 2024
  • While the Panthers have been objectively awful nearly every week this season, New Orleans has not been much better since its surprising 2-0 start.
    Marco Rubio, Newsweek, 1 Nov. 2024
Adjective
  • With so much focus on AI and data, the most frightening thing to me is people exclusively depending on KPIs and data analysis to make decisions that impact people.
    Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 31 Oct. 2024
  • Not after a season of off-field adversity, including his 3-year-old son Max’s battle with a frightening case of Guillain-Barré syndrome in August, briefly leaving him paralyzed.
    Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 26 Oct. 2024

Thesaurus Entries Near gruesome

Cite this Entry

“Gruesome.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gruesome. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on gruesome

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