Synonyms of gruesome
105 similar words · 60 opposite words
Another word for gruesome is grisly. Other synonyms of gruesome are ghastly, hair-raising, horrific, skin-crawling and alarming. The opposite of gruesome is ungruesome.
Synonyms and similar words for gruesome
adjectiveRepellently frightful and shocking; ghastly, horrific.
- grislyHorrifyingly repellent; gruesome, terrifying.
- horrible
- affreuxDreadful; disturbing or frightening.
- alarmingCausing apprehension, fear or alarm; frightening.
- spine-tinglingScary, exciting or exhilarating.
- appalling
- awful
- eldritchUnearthly, supernatural, eerie, preternatural.
- butt-clenching informalSynonym of buttock-clenching.
- buttock-clenching informalSuspenseful, frightening; causing anxiety.
- dreadful
- fearful
- flaysome British, dialectalTerrifying; frightful.
- flesh-crawlingSynonym of skin-crawling.
- formidable
- freaky slang
- frightening
- frightensomeCharacterized by frightening; inducing fear; scary.
- frightful
- ghastlyHorrifyingly shocking.
- ghostly
- hair-curlingExciting, astonishing, frightening, or horrifying.
- hair-raisingCausing fear or anxiety; scary.
- horrid
- horrificCausing horror; horrifying.
- horrifyingTending to inspire horror; that horrifies; horrific.
- horripilating
- pulse-poundingThat increases the heartbeat rate, especially as a result of excitement or fear.
- scaring
- scary
- shocking
- skin-crawlingHorrifying or nauseating, so as to cause a creeping sensation in a person's skin.
- terrible
- terrifying
- terrorsomeCharacterised or marked by terror; frightful; frightening.
- buggish obsolete
- dismayful obsolete
adjectiveAwful, terrible.
- abysmal figuratively
- atrocious
- bad
- chronic slang
- coarse
- corny
- crap slang, vulgarOf poor quality.
- crappy slang, vulgar
- crummy slang
- dire
- disagreeable
- dismal
- dogshit vulgar
- fifth-rate
- foul
- fourth-rate
- godawful
- hellish
- hideous
- hopeless
- horrendousExtremely bad; awful; terrible.
- inadequateNot adequate; lacking in quality or quantity required; insufficient for a purpose.
- incompetent
- inelegantNot elegant; not exhibiting neatness, refinement, or precision.
- intolerable
- inferior
- lackluster
- loathsomeHighly offensive; abominable, sickening.
- lousy
- miserable
- naff slang
- negative
- odiousArousing or meriting strong dislike, aversion, or intense displeasure.
- ordinary Australia
- pathetic
- peak
- piss-poorReflecting a low standard of workmanship or achievement; very inferior.
- rotten
- rubbish Australia, colloquialExceedingly bad; awful.
- shitawful vulgarVery awful.
- shitty vulgar
- sixth-rate
- sloppy
- subpar
- unfavorable
- wackAnnoyingly or disappointingly bad, in various senses; lousy, corny, cringy, uncool, messed up.
- crapalicious rare, slangWorthless; bad.
- deityforsaken humorous, rareGodforsaken; particularly bad or terrible.
adjectiveOf a person: filled with fear; afraid, fearful.
- afearedAfraid.
- afraid
- alarmed
- anxious
- apprehensive
- chickenCowardly.
- concerned
- creeped outExperiencing a creepy sensation; having been weirded out.
- frightenedAfraid; suffering from fear.
- fritFrightened.
- horrifiedStruck with horror.
- mortified
- panickedExperiencing or in a state of panic.
- scaredFeeling fear; afraid, frightened.
- shocked
- startledSurprised and slightly frightened.
- terrifiedExtremely frightened.
- worriedThinking about unpleasant things that have happened or that might happen; feeling afraid and unhappy.
- wary
- timorous archaic
Opposite of gruesome
adjectiveRepellently frightful and shocking; ghastly, horrific.
- ungruesomeNot gruesome.
adjectiveAwful, terrible.
- acceptable
- agreeable
- all right
- amazing
- awesome
- beatific
- beneGood.
- blissful
- bodacious
- bonaGood.
- brilliant
- celestial
- commendableWorthy of commendation; deserving praise; admirable, creditable, or meritorious.
- cool
- dandy as candy Canada, USPerfectly fine or good.
- decent
- delightfulPleasant; pleasing, bringing enjoyment, satisfaction, or pleasure.
- divine
- enjoyablePleasant, capable of giving pleasure.
- excellent
- exceptional
- fabulous
- fantastic
- fine
- goatedBeing or considered the greatest of all time; the best.
- goloptious
- gratifyingPleasing, satisfying.
- great
- heavenlikeResembling or characteristic of a heaven; heavenly.
- heavenly
- incredible
- lovely
- magnificent
- marvelousExciting wonder or surprise; astonishing; wonderful.
- neat
- nice
- not badReasonably good; almost good; mediocre.
- outstanding
- perfect
- phenomenal
- pleasant
- pleasingAgreeable; giving pleasure, cheer, enjoyment or gratification.
- positive
- radA non-SI unit of absorbed dose of radiation, equal to 0.01 gray, that is, 1 centigray.
- radical
- right as rain
- satisfying
- solid
- splendid
- stellar
- stupendous
- super
- superb
- sweet
- sweet as a nut UKExtremely good.
- terrific
- tubular
- well
- wicked
Meaning of gruesome
- adjective Repellently frightful and shocking; ghastly, horrific.
- adjective Awful, terrible.
- adjective Of a person: filled with fear; afraid, fearful.
gruesome in other languages
Questions about synonyms of gruesome
- What is another word for gruesome?
- Gruesome has 105 synonyms on Word.ws, such as grisly, ghastly, hair-raising, horrific, skin-crawling, alarming, hair-curling and flesh-crawling.
- What is the opposite of gruesome?
- The opposite of gruesome is ungruesome.
- What does gruesome mean?
- Gruesome means repellently frightful and shocking; ghastly, horrific.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gruesome (page history and authors) and the entries of the words listed. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws grouped the synonyms and antonyms by meaning and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this page: “Synonyms of gruesome.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/synonyms/gruesome. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.