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Ghastly

//ˈɡɑːs(t).li// adj, adv

Definitions

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

    "Each turned his face with a ghastly pang."

  2. 2
    Horrifyingly shocking.

    "Mangled with ghastly wounds through plate and mail."

  3. 3
    Extremely bad.

    "The play was simply ghastly."

Adjective
  1. 1
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror wordnet
  2. 2
    gruesomely indicative of death or the dead wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    In a ghastly manner.

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

Etymology

Etymology 1

From a conflation of gastly, from Middle English gastly, from gasten (from Old English gǣstan (“to torment, frighten”)) + -ly, and ghostly (which was also spelt gastlich in Middle English). Equivalent to ghast/gast + -ly. Spelling with gh developed in the 16th century due to the conflation.

Etymology 2

From a conflation of gastly, from Middle English gastly, from gasten (from Old English gǣstan (“to torment, frighten”)) + -ly, and ghostly (which was also spelt gastlich in Middle English). Equivalent to ghast/gast + -ly. Spelling with gh developed in the 16th century due to the conflation.

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