ghastly

[gast-lee]

adjective

ghastlier, ghastliest 

1. shockingly frightful or dreadful; horrible.

   a ghastly murder.

2. resembling a ghost, especially in being very pale.

   a ghastly look to his face.

   Synonyms: cadaverous, pallid, deathlike

3. terrible; very bad.

   a ghastly error.

adverb

1. Also ghastlily ghastily in a ghastly manner; horribly; terribly.

2. with a deathlike quality.

ghastly

/ ˈɡɑːstlɪ /

adjective

1. informal,  very bad or unpleasant

2. deathly pale; wan

3. informal,  extremely unwell; ill

   they felt ghastly after the party

4. terrifying; horrible

adverb

1. unhealthily; sickly

   ghastly pale

2. archaic,  in a horrible or hideous manner

Other Word Forms

• ghastliness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of ghastly¹

1275–1325; Middle English gastly; ghast, -ly

Word History and Origins

Origin of ghastly¹

Old English gāstlīc spiritual; see _ghostly

Example Sentences

Of the more than twenty million who were taken captive, at least half died on the ghastly march to the “factories” that were scattered mainly along Africa’s west coast.

Read more on Literature

Meanwhile, Del Toro amps up the action, starting the film off with a ghastly great sequence in which Elordi’s Creature punches a sailor so hard his spine snaps into a backward somersault.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"Really ghastly," says Dame Margaret Beckett, who was number two under John Smith in the 1990s.

Read more on BBC

The commissioner described Panorama's footage, obtained by secret filming, as "vile to watch", calling the officers involved "ghastly, ghastly individuals".

Read more on BBC

Kirk’s death was ghastly and contemptible, but in a media environment and country conditioned to move on, its shock is already beginning to wear off.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• appalling 
• awful 
• frightening www.thesaurus.com
• frightful 
• ghostly 
• ghoulish 
• grim 
• grisly 
• gruesome 
• hideous 
• horrendous 
• horrible 
• horrid 
• lurid 
• macabre 
• shocking 
• sickening 
• terrible 
• terrifying 
• unpleasant 

When To Use

What does ghastly mean?

Ghastly means dreadful, horrible, terrible, or shockingly frightful.Ghastly is more common in everyday usage in the U.K. than in the U.S., but it is used in the same ways in both places. It can be applied in a range of serious and not-so-serious ways.Ghastly can also mean resembling a ghost due to being very pale. Less commonly, it can be used as an adverb.Example: Our dinner was positively ghastly—all the food was underseasoned and overcooked until it was nearly inedible.