ghastly

comparative ghastlier · superlative ghastliest

1. Like a ghost in appearance; death-like; pale; pallid; dismal.

   Each turned his face with a ghastly pang.

   1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC

   3 more examples

   His face was so ghastly that it could scarcely be recognized.

   1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC

   "My men grow mutinous day by day; / My men grow ghastly wan and weak." / The stout mate thought of home; a spray / Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.

   1892, Joaquin Miller, Columbus

   They gathered soberly in the farthest recess of the ward and gossiped about him in malicious, offended undertones, rebelling against his presence as a ghastly imposition and resenting him malevolently for the nauseating truth of which he was bright reminder.

   1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 169

2. Horrifyingly shocking.

   Mangled with ghastly wounds through plate and mail.

   1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   1 more example

   They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.

   1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: lurid, grisly, gruesome

3. colloquialdatedExtremely bad.

   The play was simply ghastly.

   1 more example

   Well, Uncle, it's really been a ghastly mistake from the very beginning.

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

comparative more ghastly · comparative ghastlier · superlative most ghastly · superlative ghastliest

1. In a ghastly manner.

   You are even ghastlier pale than you were at the wedding.

   2011, Ella March Chase [pseudonym; Kim Osram Bush], Three Maids for a Crown: A Novel of the Grey Sisters, New York, N.Y.: Broadway Paperbacks, →ISBN, page 71

   5 more examples

   Her face was ghastly pale, and perhaps rendered still more so by the blueish light of the fire.

   1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Adventure of My Uncle”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 1 (Strange Stories. […]), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC, page 30

   She drained it at a single draught, while Sancgraal’s silent lips appeared to tremble with some mental utterance—perhaps, for who can fathom the depths of superstition, in her most cavernous hollows of atheistic doubt?—perhaps murmuring the absolutory formula of his church over her!—Almost immediately after she grew very ghastly pale, and staggered against the shrine.

   1854, [Emma Robinson], “The Shrine of St. Edward”, in Westminster Abbey; or, The Days of the Reformation. […], volume III, London: John Mortimer, […], →OCLC, page 234

   The officer in charge gave a sudden warning cry and flung out his arms towards the captain, who, turning still ghastlier pale, called out: “Lower the other boats. Lower away, I say—both of them.”

   1874 March 28, “The Blenkarne Inheritance”, in The London Reader of Literature, Science, Art, and General Information, volume XXII, number 569, →OCLC, chapter V, page 513, column 1

   Johnathan's lips moved ghastly before his voice would come. "So I'm crazy, am I? And if I choose to murder you, what would you do?"

   1921, William Dudley Pelley, The Fog: A Novel, page 196

   We have had word from other quarters,” the Prince Bishop continued, nervously, awkwardly, over-explanatorily, his face ghastlier white even than was usual, “that Grand Master Albrecht is moving his war-engines and cannon here, to Frauenberg!”

   1998, Christopher Meredith, “Mawrth”, in Sidereal Time, Bridgend: Seren, →ISBN, page 88

   Synonyms: ghastily, ghastlily