Ghastful

adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Causing fear; terrifying. archaic

    "Very desolate was that valley, having a dark aspect and a ghastful, such as a man might look for in the infernal glens of Pyriphlegethon or Acheron."

  2. 2
    Terrified, frightened. archaic

    "Th' Almighty anſwers — "I my ſelf will place "The dreadful Stains of Murther on the Face, "That all may ſhun thy Crimes and Fate. — He ſaid, The Caitiff heard, with ghaſtful Looks he fled."

Example

More examples

"Very desolate was that valley, having a dark aspect and a ghastful, such as a man might look for in the infernal glens of Pyriphlegethon or Acheron."

Etymology

From Middle English gastful, equivalent to ghast + -ful. See ghastly.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.