Word.ws English Dictionary

ghastily

ghastily adverb: in a ghastly manner.

Adverb

ghastily (comparative more ghastily, superlative most ghastily)

  1. In a ghastly manner.
    • […] in their various attitudes of death / My murdered children’s mute and eyeless sculls / Glared ghastily upon me.1821, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Queen Mab, section VII, page 68
    • When he tosseth his head, / The drear-white steed, / And ghastily champeth the last moon-ray,— / What angel there / Can lead him away, / That the living may rule for the Dead?1850, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “A Drama of Exile”, in Mrs. Browning’s Poems, page 58
    Synonyms:
    ghastlily

Synonyms of ghastily

Forms of ghastily

comparativemore ghastily
superlativemost ghastily

Origin of ghastily

Apparently ghastly + -ly.

Questions about ghastily

What does ghastily mean?
Ghastily means in a ghastly manner.
What part of speech is ghastily?
Ghastily is an adverb.

Words near ghastily in the dictionary

  1. ghasted
  2. ghastful
  3. ghastfull
  4. ghastfully
  5. ghastfulness
  6. ghastily
  7. ghasting
  8. ghastlier
  9. ghastliest
  10. ghastlily
  11. ghastliness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ghastily (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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