Meanings
plural ghastlinesses
- countableuncountableThe state of being ghastly.
In both a mazefull ſolitarineſſe: / In night of ſprites the gaſtly powers to ſtur, / In thee or ſprites or ſprited gaſtlineſſe: […]
The New Arcadia
c. 1580s, Philip Sidney, “Astrophel and Stella”, in [Mary Sidney], editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia […] [The New Arcadia], 3rd edition, London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1598, →OCLC, sonnet 96, page 5641 more example
Francesca felt oppressed as she gazed on the bare walls, the wooden pallet, the crucifix at the foot, where the wan light of the ill-supplied lamp gave a strange ghastliness to the dying agony of the Saviour.
1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 184 - countableuncountableA ghastly thing.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Cite this entry
ghastliness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ghastliness
“ghastliness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ghastliness. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ghastliness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ghastliness.
Source: ghastliness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.