Contextualizebeta

ghastly

adj
/ˈɡɑːs(t).li/UK/ˈɡas(t).li//ˈɡæs(t).li/US

Etymology

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.

  1. derived from gǣstan
  2. derived from gastly

Definitions

  1. Like a ghost in appearance

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

    • Each turned his face with a ghastly pang.
    • His face was so ghastly that it could scarcely be recognized.
    • "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.

  2. Horrifyingly shocking.

    • Mangled with ghastly wounds through plate and mail.

  3. Extremely bad.

    • The play was simply ghastly.
    • Well, Uncle, it's really been a ghastly mistake from the very beginning.
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. In a ghastly manner.

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

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at ghastly. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01ghastly02shocking03shock04heavy05somber06sombre07grim

A definitional loop anchored at ghastly. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at ghastly

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA