Synonym Chooser

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

Some common synonyms of macabre are ghastly, grisly, gruesome, and lurid. While all these words mean "horrifying and repellent in appearance or aspect," macabre implies a morbid preoccupation with the physical aspects of death.

a macabre tale of premature burial

When would ghastly be a good substitute for macabre?

The synonyms ghastly and macabre are sometimes interchangeable, but ghastly suggests the terrifying aspects of corpses and ghosts.

a ghastly accident

How are the words grisly and gruesome related as synonyms of macabre?

Both grisly and gruesome suggest additionally the results of extreme violence or cruelty.

an unusually grisly murder
suffered a gruesome death

How do lurid and gruesome relate to one another, in the sense of macabre?

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

the lurid details of a crime

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of macabre From Psycho to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to The Silence of the Lambs, Gein’s macabre legacy gave birth to fictional monsters born in his image and ignited a cultural obsession with the criminally deviant. Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 4 Sep. 2025 Are there like guillotines and secret dungeons and macabre stuff like that in the house? Jim Harrington, Mercury News, 4 Sep. 2025 The second one was macabre body horror, a hospital setting, but actually, we were tasked with putting it in that section. Bethy Squires, Vulture, 22 Aug. 2025 There are more macabre things that could go wrong, too. Niall Stanage, The Hill, 9 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for macabre
Recent Examples of Synonyms for macabre
Adjective
  • Gein committed many gruesome crimes, but cannibalism was not one of them.
    Christopher Rudolph, PEOPLE, 4 Oct. 2025
  • But one photo, far less gruesome, has been gnawing at me for weeks.
    Ruth Margalit, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Those bots have attracted lawsuits in horrific instances where users lost their grip on reality or took their own lives after interacting with them.
    Jim Edwards, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2025
  • Many of the base’s survivors have similarly described the singularly horrific nature of those 45 square miles in eastern Cuba.
    Miriam Pensack, The Dial, 30 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • That’s the most shocking thing.
    Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 30 Sep. 2025
  • As if that wasn’t enough motivation, the Horned Frogs (3-1, 0-1 Big 12) will face Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes (2-3, 0-2) for the first time since Sanders led the Buffs to a shocking 45-42 upset in Fort Worth to open the 2023 season.
    Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • That alone would be nightmare enough, but this debate has been constructed and is moderated by Sam Reich.
    Nic Juarez, Vulture, 14 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Macabre.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/macabre. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on macabre

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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