adjective
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horrific or bloodthirsty
a gory story
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involving bloodshed and killing
a gory battle
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covered in gore
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of gory
Explanation
Use the word gory to describe something that features a lot of bloodshed and violence, like a horror movie in which victims are axed to death by a madman. Some people love gory movies like that, and others refuse to watch them. Something that is gory often involves both violence and bloodshed, but it can also describe something that is merely blood, like the gory photographs depicting a root canal procedure in a dental assistant textbook. Gory can describe unpleasant, embarrassing things, like saying of your brother’s bad behavior over the holidays, “I’ll spare you the gory details about his meltdown at the family Christmas party.”
Vocabulary lists containing gory
Bud, Not Buddy
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"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act III
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The Catcher in the Rye
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Gory giveaway: A replica bloodstained jersey from a baseball great.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 11, 2026
Story: 6 out of 10; Gory: 8 out of 10.
From Washington Times • Oct. 16, 2023
Story: 7.5 out of 10; Gory: 6 out of 10.
From Washington Times • Oct. 16, 2023
Gory entertainment headlined at the ancient amphitheater for only about 400 years after it was built in Rome in A.D.
From New York Times • Jun. 12, 2022
Gory and grewsome,—he is the mainstay Of the historic novel of to-day.
From A Phenomenal Fauna by Herford, Oliver
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
