ghastly
Meaning
-
- Like a ghost in appearance; death-like; pale; pallid; dismal.
- Horrifyingly shocking.
- Extremely bad.
Synonyms
deadly
very pale
appaling
extremely weird
dredful
Frequency
Pronounced as (IPA)
/ˈɡɑːs(t).li/
Etymology
From a conflation of a derivation of Old English gǣstan (“to torment, frighten”) with the suffix -lic, and ghostly (which was also spelt "gastlich" in Middle English). Equivalent to ghast/gast + -ly. Spelling with 'gh' developed 16th century due to the conflation.
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Notes