ghostly en · ADJ
Pronunciation
Etymology
From Middle English gostly, gastlich, from Old English gāstlīċ (“spiritual, holy, clerical (not lay), ghastly, ghostly, spectral”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaistalīk (“spiritual”), equivalent to ghost + -ly. Cognate with Scots ghaistly, gaistly (“spiritual, ghastly, terrifying”), West Frisian geastlik (“spiritual, clerical, religious”), Dutch geestelijk (“spiritual, clerical, ecclesiastical”), German geistlich (“spiritual, sacred, religious”), Danish geistlig (“ecclesiastical, clerical”).
Meanings
-
Of or pertaining to ghosts or spirits.
a ghostly figure with a hood
The ghostly moaning was heard from upstairs.
The graveyard was haunted by a ghostly figure of a young girl.
-
Spooky; frightening.
His lips were chapped and lined with a ghostly purple fringe.
2019, Dave Eggers, The Parade, N.Y.: Vintage Books, page 134:Scores of coconut-shell fires blazed with their characteristic glaring white flame, throwing grotesque shadows on the brown thatched huts, dancing in fairylike shimmerings among the domes of coconut fronds, casting ghostly reaches of light through the adjacent graveyards, and silhouetting the forms of pareu-clad natives at work cleaning their fish or laying them on the live coals to broil.
1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 35:A ghostly hush fell.
-
(archaic) Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual.
Save and defend us from our ghostly enemies.
1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC:a ghostly confessor
one of the ghostly children of St. Jerome
1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ghostliest | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| ghostlier | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Deriveds
ghostlily · unghostly · nonghostly · ghostliness · ghostly father
Relateds
fiendish · ghastly · demonical · demonic
Synonyms
shocking · frightensome · ghostlike · formidable · pulse-pounding · freaky · hair-raising · ghastly · horrifying · dismayful · phantasmic · frightful · scary · appalling · ghostly · awful · ghastly · horrid · buggish · scaring · phantomic · grisly · spooky · phantomlike · hair-curling · wraithy · frightening · flaysome · terrorsome · affreux · terrible · apparitional · flesh-crawling · spectral · dreadful · horrific · ghostly · eldritch · phantasmal · buttock-clenching · butt-clenching · skin-crawling · spine-tingling · wraithlike · horrible · fearful · horripilating · terrifying · ghostish · alarming
Translations (37)
pl zmorowaty (pertaining to ghosts) · it fantasmatico (pertaining to ghosts) · eo fantoma (pertaining to ghosts) · fr fantomatique (pertaining to ghosts) · gd taibhseil (pertaining to ghosts) · et tontlik (pertaining to ghosts) · hu kísérteties (pertaining to ghosts) · ca fantasmal (pertaining to ghosts) · hi भुतहा (pertaining to ghosts) · pt fantasmagórico (spooky, frightening) · bg плашещ (spooky, frightening) · el πνευματικός (pertaining to ghosts) · ka ლანდისებრი (pertaining to ghosts) · gd taibhseil (spooky, frightening) · bg призрачен (pertaining to ghosts) · pl widmowy (pertaining to ghosts) · ko 유령의 (pertaining to ghosts) · is draugalegur (pertaining to ghosts) · ru при́зрачный (pertaining to ghosts) · ga taibhsiúil (pertaining to ghosts) · pl upiorny (spooky, frightening) · it spettrale (pertaining to ghosts) · ga taibhsiúil (spooky, frightening) · fi aavemainen (pertaining to ghosts) · enm gostly (pertaining to ghosts) · it spiritico (pertaining to ghosts) · bg призрачен (spooky, frightening) · la phantasmalis (pertaining to ghosts) · hi भुतहा (spooky, frightening) · el στοιχειωμένος (spooky, frightening) · bn ভৌতিক (pertaining to ghosts) · pt fantasmagórico (pertaining to ghosts) · el άυλος (pertaining to ghosts) · ka აჩრდილისებრი (pertaining to ghosts) · la spectralis (pertaining to ghosts) · es fantasmal (pertaining to ghosts) · ka სულიერი (pertaining to ghosts)