Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use grisly in a sentence

15 example sentences · adjective, adverb

Grisly means horrifyingly repellent; gruesome, terrifying. Example: “The photographs of the killings depict a grisly scene.”

Examples of grisly by meaning

adjectiveHorrifyingly repellent; gruesome, terrifying.

  • The photographs of the killings depict a grisly scene.
  • We will have no truce or parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will.1941, Winston Churchill, The Unrelenting Struggle
  • Perhaps you have to have seen the first film to like this one; to feel, like the young fans of Harry Potter, that without knowing or wanting it, you have grown up with its grisly protagonists.2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn’t disappoint”, in The Guardian, London, archived...

More sentences with grisly

  • A small bone fell out first and Cody grinned, despite the grisly scene.2021, Reavis Z. Wortham, Laying Bones. From the entry coon-dick
  • However, there’s a lot more to this grisly Canuck’s story than just the “snikt” sound effect.2018 July 25, Peyton Hinckle, “Snikt To The Man: All Of Wolverine’s Abilities, Officially Ranked”, in CBR.com. From the entry snikt
  • On returning home, he fronted his servant about this grisly discovery.2001, Richard Flanagan, Gould's Book of Fish, Vintage, published 2016, page 217. From the entry front
  • He found something grisly in the inevitability of the pattern of each affair.1953, Ian Fleming, “The Hastening Saloon”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 157. From the entry disentanglement
  • The grisly details of what SBF is alleged to be guilty of will emerge in forthcoming criminal proceedings.2022 December 17, John Naughton, “Why were the media hypnotised by Sam Bankman-Fried?”, in The Observer, →ISSN. From the entry SBF
  • Chasseur said, “Murder is a grisly, nasty business, Jessica.2006, Donald Bain, A Question of Murder (Murder, She Wrote), New York, N.Y.: Signet, New American Library, →ISBN, page 35. From the entry warm-blooded
  • “Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds?” Lucius asks, idiotlike, after Aaron has described in savory detail the grisly murders he’s arranged.2011 December 13, Charles Isherwood, “I Wouldn’t Touch That Pie, if I Were You”, in The New York Times. From the entry idiotlike
  • Worse than that, he was also accused of plaigarism - of lifting his account of Krook's grisly death straight from another novel.2009, S. Askwith, Shadowing Charles Dickens, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 189, →ISBN. From the entry plaigarism
  • Designed by the Parlement, the grisly mise-en-scène, which horrified many philosophes, was intended to wipe the Parlement's slate clean of any putative stain of anti-monarchism.2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 231. From the entry anti-monarchism
  • Just outside Piraeus we circled low over a capsized fishing-boat, a grisly wreck in the crystal blue water, and wirelessed a description of it to the mainland.1933, Robert Byron, First Russia, Then Tibet, Part II, Chapter 1. From the entry wireless
  • Bright-beady of eye, bony of cheek and jaw, scarred, toughened, broken and reknit, indestructible, grisly, gladiatorial as a hornet, he was a type neither new nor unfamiliar.1903 February, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hygeia at the Solito”, in Everybody’s Magazine, volume VIII, number 2, New…. From the entry reknit
  • They prayed the grisly bear not to be angry with the hunter, nor to fight him, but rather to have pity on him and deliver himself up to his mercies.1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 8, page 226. From the entry grisly bear

Meaning of grisly

  1. adjective Horrifyingly repellent; gruesome, terrifying.
  2. adverb In a horrible or terrible manner; in a terrifying way.

Full definition of grisly

Questions about grisly in a sentence

How do you use grisly in a sentence?
Grisly is used as an adjective and adverb. For example: “The photographs of the killings depict a grisly scene.”
What is a short sentence with grisly?
“Chasseur said, “Murder is a grisly, nasty business, Jessica.”
What does grisly mean?
Grisly means horrifyingly repellent; gruesome, terrifying.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grisly (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use grisly in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/grisly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.