as in gruesome
extremely disturbing or repellent
the police report described the murder scene in grisly detail
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of grisly
The three-part series, directed by Nancy Schwartzman, reexamines the grisly case and follows Ellen’s parents, Josh and Sandra Greenberg, who having never believed that their daughter killed herself, spent the last 14 years trying to discover what really happened.
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Addie Morfoot, Variety, 30 Sep. 2025
A day after the grisly discovery of Rivas Hernandez’s remains, Burke performed at a show in Minneapolis, tossing Labubu toys to his fans.
—Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 29 Sep. 2025
While Kraus was staying in northern Minnesota, in a mining region known as the Iron Range, news reports emerged of a grisly murder allegedly committed by three teen-agers.
—Jennifer Wilson, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2025
Hawke returns too, grumbling and growling behind a rubber mask (and, eventually, some grisly prosthetics).
—Katie Rife, IndieWire, 21 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for grisly
Addie Morfoot, Variety, 30 Sep. 2025
A day after the grisly discovery of Rivas Hernandez’s remains, Burke performed at a show in Minneapolis, tossing Labubu toys to his fans.
—Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 29 Sep. 2025
While Kraus was staying in northern Minnesota, in a mining region known as the Iron Range, news reports emerged of a grisly murder allegedly committed by three teen-agers.
—Jennifer Wilson, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2025
Hawke returns too, grumbling and growling behind a rubber mask (and, eventually, some grisly prosthetics).
—Katie Rife, IndieWire, 21 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for grisly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grisly
Adjective
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Halloween was significantly more graphic than many of its predecessors, and Zombie said the gruesome violence was a deliberate choice and that it wasn’t supposed to be easy viewing.—
Jessica Sager,
PEOPLE,
24 Oct. 2025
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The five-minute mash-up rapidly intercuts scenes of happy domesticity (a loving mother, kids in face paint eating popcorn in front of the tube, teens affectionately goofing around) with gruesome murders committed by a beautiful little boy.—
David Wingrave,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The tragedy in question is no secret — Chris and Jenny are killed together in a horrific car accident, which inspires all sorts of awful questions — and the fallout is mostly predictable.—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
22 Oct. 2025
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How the stakeholders juggled those diametrically opposed ideas—liberty and self-governance but also slavery and their horrific treatment of the Native American population—is the part of the human experience that Burns is most interested in exploring.—
Carlo Versano,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The shocking New York City murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024 was followed by a July Midtown Manhattan shooting that claimed the lives of two security guards and two executives at Blackstone and Rudin Management.—
Amanda Gerut,
Fortune,
21 Oct. 2025
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At some hibernation sites, a shocking 90 to 100 percent of bats have died, and there currently is no cure.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
21 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Grisly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grisly. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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