Ghastly
adjective
Very terrible or upsetting to see or think about.
The murder scene was too ghastly to describe.
Often appears as...
- ghastly sight
- ghastly crime
adjective
Very bad or unpleasant.
She has a ghastly taste in clothes.
Often appears as...
- ghastly mistake
- ghastly taste
adjective
Pale and ill in appearance.
He looked ghastly, as if he hadn't slept in days.
Often appears as...
- ghastly face
- ghastly pallor
adjective
Very terrible or upsetting to see or think about.
The murder scene was too ghastly to describe.
Often appears as...
- ghastly sight
- ghastly crime
adjective
Very bad or unpleasant.
She has a ghastly taste in clothes.
Often appears as...
- ghastly mistake
- ghastly taste
adjective
Pale and ill in appearance.
He looked ghastly, as if he hadn't slept in days.
Often appears as...
- ghastly face
- ghastly pallor
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Shock Value
Use 'ghastly' to express shock or strong disapproval of something visually or morally disturbing.
The ghastly images from the war-torn area shocked everyone.
Pro Tip 2/3Intensity
Use 'ghastly' to intensify the description of a horrifying scene or event, beyond 'bad' or 'unpleasant'.
After the earthquake, survivors described the aftermath as ghastly.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Literal
Sometimes 'ghastly' is used metaphorically to express a severe level of disapproval unrelated to physical sights.
Her betrayal felt ghastly, leaving a lingering sense of unease.
Pro Tip 1/3Shock Value
Use 'ghastly' to express shock or strong disapproval of something visually or morally disturbing.
The ghastly images from the war-torn area shocked everyone.
Pro Tip 2/3Intensity
Use 'ghastly' to intensify the description of a horrifying scene or event, beyond 'bad' or 'unpleasant'.
After the earthquake, survivors described the aftermath as ghastly.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Literal
Sometimes 'ghastly' is used metaphorically to express a severe level of disapproval unrelated to physical sights.
Her betrayal felt ghastly, leaving a lingering sense of unease.
Pro Tip 1/3Shock Value
Use 'ghastly' to express shock or strong disapproval of something visually or morally disturbing.
The ghastly images from the war-torn area shocked everyone.
Pro Tip 2/3Intensity
Use 'ghastly' to intensify the description of a horrifying scene or event, beyond 'bad' or 'unpleasant'.
After the earthquake, survivors described the aftermath as ghastly.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Literal
Sometimes 'ghastly' is used metaphorically to express a severe level of disapproval unrelated to physical sights.
Her betrayal felt ghastly, leaving a lingering sense of unease.
Never forget "Ghastly"
Humans forget easily. That's why you should download WordUp: Smart reminders, word games, AI practice, and much more!
Video examples
A roadmap to end aging PIPE...
And the fundamental answer is that the pro-aging trance is not as dumb as it looks. It's actually a sensible way of coping with the inevitability of aging. Aging is ghastly, but it's inevitable, so, you know, we've got to find some way to put it out of our minds, and it's rational to do anything that we might want to do, to do that.
Video examples
How one piece of...
aftermath of the law he had masterminded. Americans today continue to debate whether the Civil War was inevitable, but there is no doubt that the Kansas-Nebraska Act made the ghastly conflict much more likely. And for that reason, it should be remembered as one of the most consequential pieces of legislation
Video examples
Why should you read “The...
greets them “with a ghastly skull’s smile, with holes where teeth had been, and a limp hand raised from a hospital bed.” As Roy probes the depths of human experience, she never loses sight of the way her characters are shaped by the time and the place where they live.
Video examples
Why should you read...
grief, and guilt, while resisting simple interpretations or clear moral messages. And while they often hint at supernatural elements, the true darkness they explore is the human mind and its propensity for self-destruction. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” a ghastly murder
Video examples
A conservative's plea:...
And the second is that we might just be able to take the ghastly holy war of ideology that we're suffering under in this country and turn it into a competition of ideas based on solidarity and mutual respect. And then maybe, just maybe,
Video examples
Episode 4: Massive Ivory...
the world's largest cache of raw ivory waits for three days Aidan has been denied access to the ivory room so we've been looking for images of ivory on a big scale just to try to illustrate how ghastly the costs are poaching are and
Video examples
Advocating for gender...
representation or i may say the equally hapless levels of women at the peace table virtually that has not improved over the last decade and above all the ghastly contagion of rape and sexual violence in so many societies indeed
Video examples
Death of King George VI...
there to adjust and rest and do things prince philip went i went to sleep in a little room that was off to one side the queen was at a desk writing letter's phone rang my colleague said mike is a ghastly river going around
Video examples
Why do we sleep? PIPE...
Ah, it worked! A sound that is desperately familiar to most of us, and of course it's the sound of the alarm clock. And what that truly ghastly, awful sound does is stop the single most important behavioral experience
Video examples
John Wesley Powell: From...
guests are bandied about freely among them and yet to me the jests are ghastly and the cheer is somber even I the
Video examples
A roadmap to end aging PIPE...
And the fundamental answer is that the pro-aging trance is not as dumb as it looks. It's actually a sensible way of coping with the inevitability of aging. Aging is ghastly, but it's inevitable, so, you know, we've got to find some way to put it out of our minds, and it's rational to do anything that we might want to do, to do that.
Video examples
How one piece of...
aftermath of the law he had masterminded. Americans today continue to debate whether the Civil War was inevitable, but there is no doubt that the Kansas-Nebraska Act made the ghastly conflict much more likely. And for that reason, it should be remembered as one of the most consequential pieces of legislation
Video examples
Why should you read “The...
greets them “with a ghastly skull’s smile, with holes where teeth had been, and a limp hand raised from a hospital bed.” As Roy probes the depths of human experience, she never loses sight of the way her characters are shaped by the time and the place where they live.
Video examples
Why should you read...
grief, and guilt, while resisting simple interpretations or clear moral messages. And while they often hint at supernatural elements, the true darkness they explore is the human mind and its propensity for self-destruction. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” a ghastly murder
Video examples
A conservative's plea:...
And the second is that we might just be able to take the ghastly holy war of ideology that we're suffering under in this country and turn it into a competition of ideas based on solidarity and mutual respect. And then maybe, just maybe,
Video examples
Episode 4: Massive Ivory...
the world's largest cache of raw ivory waits for three days Aidan has been denied access to the ivory room so we've been looking for images of ivory on a big scale just to try to illustrate how ghastly the costs are poaching are and
Video examples
Advocating for gender...
representation or i may say the equally hapless levels of women at the peace table virtually that has not improved over the last decade and above all the ghastly contagion of rape and sexual violence in so many societies indeed
Video examples
Death of King George VI...
there to adjust and rest and do things prince philip went i went to sleep in a little room that was off to one side the queen was at a desk writing letter's phone rang my colleague said mike is a ghastly river going around
Video examples
Why do we sleep? PIPE...
Ah, it worked! A sound that is desperately familiar to most of us, and of course it's the sound of the alarm clock. And what that truly ghastly, awful sound does is stop the single most important behavioral experience
Video examples
John Wesley Powell: From...
guests are bandied about freely among them and yet to me the jests are ghastly and the cheer is somber even I the
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Joanna Lumley
English Actress
It's so important to keep a marriage alive with small treats and doing little things for each other. Just remembering to say nice things and to have listening time is vital. That ghastly phrase 'quality time' means taking three minutes to sit down and be still with someone rather than yelling over your shoulder as you rush out.
Quote examples
Honeysuckle Weeks
British Actress
My uncle worked in emergency wards dealing with people who came in with terrible injuries. He talked about the sketch shows they would put on to lighten the atmosphere. You often find this sense of grim humor in hospitals. The injuries people are suffering are ghastly. You have to laugh at something or you'd otherwise cry.
Quote examples
Vanessa Redgrave
English Actress
I've still got to do something to help, however tiny it is. I always think of the old Hebrew saying, which is translated roughly into, 'He who saves one life saves the world,' because it's pretty ghastly to think of all the people we're not saving.
Quote examples
Kazuo Ishiguro
Japanese Author
I'm not at all interested in the brave who fight against the odds and win. I am interested in those who accept their lot, as that is what many people in the world are doing. They do their best in ghastly conditions.
Quote examples
Rituparna Sengupta
Indian Actress
Of course the COVID situation is ghastly and undesirable, but I cannot ignore the fact that this gave me a chance to spend what I think is the maximum time in my life with my husband and children.
Quote examples
Arabella Weir
British Comedian
I have never done a package tour in my life. It appeals in a way, but then I remind myself that you can't control the other people with you, which could turn out to be ghastly.
Quote examples
Bill Bruford
British Musician
And we'd drink huge amounts of scotch and coke, which is a ghastly sweet drink... And now people don't drink nearly as much, for good reason. We're all a little wiser.
Quote examples
Tom Shales
American Writer
Larry David's armor is his dissatisfaction with the world down to the smallest detail, and up to the whole ghastly arrangement. He won't win, but he'll enjoy losing.
Quote examples
Anthony Lewis
American Journalist
We have learned by now, or should have, that the best-intended designers of aid programs can make ghastly mistakes in their sophisticated plans.
Quote examples
A. P. Herbert
English Novelist
If nobody said anything unless he knew what he was talking about, a ghastly hush would descend upon the earth.
Quote examples
Joanna Lumley
English Actress
It's so important to keep a marriage alive with small treats and doing little things for each other. Just remembering to say nice things and to have listening time is vital. That ghastly phrase 'quality time' means taking three minutes to sit down and be still with someone rather than yelling over your shoulder as you rush out.
Quote examples
Honeysuckle Weeks
British Actress
My uncle worked in emergency wards dealing with people who came in with terrible injuries. He talked about the sketch shows they would put on to lighten the atmosphere. You often find this sense of grim humor in hospitals. The injuries people are suffering are ghastly. You have to laugh at something or you'd otherwise cry.
Quote examples
Vanessa Redgrave
English Actress
I've still got to do something to help, however tiny it is. I always think of the old Hebrew saying, which is translated roughly into, 'He who saves one life saves the world,' because it's pretty ghastly to think of all the people we're not saving.
Quote examples
Kazuo Ishiguro
Japanese Author
I'm not at all interested in the brave who fight against the odds and win. I am interested in those who accept their lot, as that is what many people in the world are doing. They do their best in ghastly conditions.
Quote examples
Rituparna Sengupta
Indian Actress
Of course the COVID situation is ghastly and undesirable, but I cannot ignore the fact that this gave me a chance to spend what I think is the maximum time in my life with my husband and children.
Quote examples
Arabella Weir
British Comedian
I have never done a package tour in my life. It appeals in a way, but then I remind myself that you can't control the other people with you, which could turn out to be ghastly.
Quote examples
Bill Bruford
British Musician
And we'd drink huge amounts of scotch and coke, which is a ghastly sweet drink... And now people don't drink nearly as much, for good reason. We're all a little wiser.
Quote examples
Tom Shales
American Writer
Larry David's armor is his dissatisfaction with the world down to the smallest detail, and up to the whole ghastly arrangement. He won't win, but he'll enjoy losing.
Quote examples
Anthony Lewis
American Journalist
We have learned by now, or should have, that the best-intended designers of aid programs can make ghastly mistakes in their sophisticated plans.
Quote examples
A. P. Herbert
English Novelist
If nobody said anything unless he knew what he was talking about, a ghastly hush would descend upon the earth.
Example 1 of 10
WordUp Chrome Extension
As you browse the web instantly look up words you don’t know.
Get Chrome Extension