Word of the Day

: November 14, 2021

grisly

adjective GRIZ-lee

What It Means

Grisly means "causing horror or intense fear."

// The movie is a grisly tale with gruesome special effects and terrifying monsters.

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grisly in Context

"It is a national tragedy that we don't appreciate pumpkins more…. Other than carving them into ghoulish and grisly faces to adorn our windows, we seem to ignore them for the rest of the time they are in season." — JP McMahon, The Irish Times, 9 Oct. 2021

Did You Know?

An angry grizzly bear could certainly inspire fear, so grizzly and grisly must be related, right? Grizzly comes from the Middle English adjective grisel, meaning "gray." Like its close relative grizzled, grizzly means "sprinkled or streaked with gray." In other words, the grizzly bear got its name because the hairs of its brownish to buff coat usually have silver or pale tips, creating a grizzled effect, not because it causes terror. Grisly is related to Old English grislic, which comes from a verb meaning "to fear" and which gives grisly its "terrifying" sense.