noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Amazement; terror; fright; fear. archaic, uncountable

   "Look you pale, mistress?―Do you perceive the ghastness of her eye?"

Example

More examples

"Look you pale, mistress?―Do you perceive the ghastness of her eye?"

Etymology

From Middle English gastnes, gastnesse, from gast, past participle of gasten (“to terrify”), equivalent to ghast + -ness.

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