gruesome

Or grew·some

[groo-suhm]

adjective

1. causing great horror; horribly repugnant; grisly.

   the site of a gruesome murder.

2. full of or causing problems; distressing.

   a gruesome day at the office.

gruesome

/ ˈɡruːsəm /

adjective

1. inspiring repugnance and horror; ghastly

Other Word Forms

• gruesomely adverb
• gruesomeness noun
• ungruesome adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of gruesome¹

1560–70; obsolete grue to shudder (cognate with German grauen, Dutch gruwen ) + -some ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of gruesome¹

C16: originally Northern English and Scottish; see _grue , _-some ¹

Example Sentences

The film is partially based in reality; the Hayes character is inspired by Martin Donnelly, whose promising career was cut short in 1990 by a gruesome crash.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"I went to university in Nottingham to study history, and I've always been really interested in the more gruesome and grotesque elements of history," she said.

Read more on BBC

One gruesome feature of this more than two-year-long civil conflict has been the huge volume of footage and photos of horrific atrocities - often seemingly filmed by the culprits themselves, and circulated online.

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I thought what might follow would be Mr. Icke’s most provocative—and logical and interesting—departure from Sophocles, an ending of a more ambiguous and less gruesome kind.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The gruesome subject matter is translated into immediate household imagery that someone Amélie’s age could grasp.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• appalling 
• frightful 
• ghastly 
• grim 
• grisly 
• hideous 
• horrendous 
• horrid 
• horrific 
• horrifying 
• lurid 
• macabre 
• morbid 
• shocking 
• terrible 
• terrifying 
• ugly 
• weird