gory

G2O1R1Y4
UK/ˈɡɔː.ɹi/Canada, US/ˈɡɔɹ.i/

adjective

Covered with blood; very bloody.

“a gory movie”

Less commonScrabble 8

Meanings

gory1

adjectivegory (comparative gorier, superlative goriest)

comparative gorier · superlative goriest

  1. Covered with blood; very bloody.

    a gory movie

  2. informalScandalous, and often unpleasant.

    Her autobiography gives all the gory details of her many divorces.

    5 more examples

    "What do you know of this Sara Stilton affair, Earl?" / "Not so much—but enough to denounce as high crime and treason her being permitted, let the paid, for eruditing on her muderous experiences and appearing upon the screen in all the gory glamour of shooting her ancient but wealthy husband. […]"

    1928, The Police Journal, volume 16, page 15

    In no time they fired away all the gory intimate details, down to his rose tattoo.

    2006, Charlotte Wilson, The Greatest Man I Never Met, page 70

    […] since the gory truth of the matter is I need scatterbrain automobiles of desire to burn up the road in order to get out of my own way

    2008 July 14, Douglas McDaniel, Ginsberg Rolls Over, Lulu.com, →ISBN

    "Don't be so modest, Caitlin. Let's hear all the gory details. For instance, was there leather involved? Or maybe some handcuffs?" / Jeremy giggled.

    2009, Bart Yates, The Distance Between Us, page 143

    The gory truth is that white women suffragettes (feminists) were not marching for Black women's right to vote in the early twentieth century. The unsavory reality is that Sistas faced sexism at the hands of our Brothas [too].

    2023 March 21, Lyvonne Briggs, Sensual Faith: The Art of Coming Home to Your Body, Convergent Books, →ISBN
  3. figurativelyExcessively detailed, often boringly so.

    When they go for a drink at the local pub, they may be quite bored with the gory minutiae of the local gossip.

    2013 March 22, Ethel Crowley, Your Place or Mine?: Community and Belonging in Twenty-First Century Ireland, Orpen Press, →ISBN
    3 more examples

    I ask the obligatory questions about how he thought she was doing and if he changed the medicine. I bite my tongue and get all the gory information. She tortures me for a while, knowing what I really want to know. Then I ask the two most important questions about the medication change. In no particular order, “Are we going to get to go to the all you can eat[…]

    2007 05, Angela Thompson, Where the Heck Is That Place Called Hope?, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 129

    All the gory information is in the footnotes to the financial statements. Under U.S. GAAP, companies are required to disclose information about their accounting choices and their expenses in the footnotes. The notes[…]

    2011 January 11, Ann C. Logue, MBA, Emerging Markets For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN

    […] level detail, you may be thinking that all you need is a big, fast DBMS to handle the gory transaction minutiae, and your job is over. Unfortunately, even with […]

    2011 August 8, Ralph Kimball, Margy Ross, The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Complete Guide to Dimensional Modeling, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 133
  4. datedslangBloody; pesky.

    "It's like being in a gory squirrel cage with you three going round and round and getting nowhere."

    1934, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], The Bravo of London

Gory2

proper nounGory (plural Gorys)

plural Gorys

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivecovered with blood

adjectiveaccompanied by bloodshed

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

gory · adjective

From gore + -y. Compare Middle English gorry (“muddy”), and güre, gire, girre (“gory, clotted”), from Old English gyr, gyru (“filthy, muddy”), from gor (“dirt, dung”); Old Frisian gere, iere (“muddy water”). More at gore.

Full word history & related roots →

Gory · proper noun

Reduced form of McGorry.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic دَمَوْي
  • دَمَوْي (damawy)covered with blood, very bloody
Bulgarian кървав, окървавен
  • кървав (kărvav)covered with blood, very bloody
  • окървавен (okărvaven)covered with blood, very bloody
Czech krvavý, zkrvavený
  • krvavýcovered with blood, very bloody
  • zkrvavenýcovered with blood, very bloody
Danish blodig
  • blodigcovered with blood, very bloody
Dutch bloedig, bloederig
  • bloedigcovered with blood, very bloody
  • bloederigcovered with blood, very bloody
Finnish verinen, hurmeinen
  • verinencovered with blood, very bloody
  • hurmeinencovered with blood, very bloody
French sanglant
  • sanglantcovered with blood, very bloody
German blutig, blutrünstig
  • blutigcovered with blood, very bloody
  • blutrünstigcovered with blood, very bloody
  • mörderischcovered with blood, very bloody
Hungarian véres
  • vérescovered with blood, very bloody
Irish fuilteach
  • fuilteachcovered with blood, very bloody
Italian cruento, sanguinoso
  • cruentocovered with blood, very bloody
  • sanguinosocovered with blood, very bloody
  • sanguinolentocovered with blood, very bloody
Latin cruentus
  • cruentuscovered with blood, very bloody
Norwegian blodig
  • blodigcovered with blood, very bloody
Polish krwawy
  • krwawycovered with blood, very bloody
Portuguese ensanguentado
  • ensanguentadocovered with blood, very bloody
Russian крова́вый, окрова́вленный
  • крова́вый (krovávyj)covered with blood, very bloody
  • окрова́вленный (okrovávlennyj)covered with blood, very bloody
Spanish ensangrentado, sanguinolento
  • ensangrentadocovered with blood, very bloody
  • sanguinolentocovered with blood, very bloody
  • sangrientocovered with blood, very bloody
  • cruentocovered with blood, very bloody
Swedish bloddrypande
  • bloddrypandecovered with blood, very bloody
Turkish kanlı, korkunç
  • kanlıcovered with blood, very bloody
  • korkunçcovered with blood, very bloody
  • ürperticicovered with blood, very bloody
Ukrainian крива́вий
  • крива́вий (kryvávyj)covered with blood, very bloody
Vietnamese máu me
  • máu mecovered with blood, very bloody

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with gory

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

gory. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gory

MLA

“gory.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gory. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gory,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gory.

Source: gory on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.