Ghastly Definition

găstlē

ghastlier, ghastliest

adjective

ghastlier, ghastliest

Horrible; frightful.

Webster's New World

Ghostlike; pale; haggard.

Webster's New World

Very bad or unpleasant.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

adverb

In a ghastly manner.

He turned ghastly pale on hearing the news.

Wiktionary

Antonyms:

Other Word Forms of Ghastly

Base Form:

ghastly

Comparative:

ghastlier

Superlative:

ghastliest

From a derivation of Old English gǣstan (“to torment, frighten”) with the suffix -lic. Equivalent to ghast/gast + -ly. Spelling with 'gh' developed 16th century from confusion with ghost; cf. also ghostly.

From Wiktionary
Alteration (influenced by ghost) of Middle English gastli from gasten to terrify aghast

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition