Dictionary

ghastliness en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree English ghastly Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English ghastliness From ghastly + -ness.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The state of being ghastly.
   • Francesca felt oppressed as she gazed on the bare walls, the wooden pallet, the crucifix at the foot, where the wan light of the ill-supplied lamp gave a strange ghastliness to the dying agony of the Saviour. 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 184:
   • In both a mazefull ſolitarineſſe: / In night of ſprites the gaſtly powers to ſtur, / In thee or ſprites or ſprited gaſtlineſſe: […] c. 1580s, Philip Sidney, “Astrophel and Stella”, in [Mary Sidney], editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia […] [The New Arcadia], 3rd edition, London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1598, →OCLC, sonnet 96, page 564:
2. (countable, uncountable) A ghastly thing.

Forms