ghastly vs grim what difference

what is difference between ghastly and grim

English

Etymology

From a conflation of a derivation of Old English gǣstan (“to torment, frighten”) with the suffix -lic, and ghostly (which was also spelt “gastlich” in Middle English). Equivalent to ghast/gast + -ly. Spelling with ‘gh’ developed 16th century due to the conflation.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑːs(t).li/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡæs(t).li/

Adjective

ghastly (comparative ghastlier, superlative ghastliest)

1. Like a ghost in appearance; death-like; pale; pallid; dismal.
   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

     Each turned his face with a ghastly pang.
2. Horrifyingly shocking.
3. Extremely bad.

Synonyms

• (sickly pale): See also Thesaurus:pallid
• (horrifyingly shocking): lurid

Translations

Adverb

ghastly (not comparable)

1. In a ghastly manner.
   • 1921, William Dudley Pelley, The Fog: A Novel, page 196:

     Johnathan’s lips moved ghastly before his voice would come. “So I’m crazy, am I? And if I choose to murder you, what would you do?”

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹɪm/
• Rhymes: -ɪm

Etymology 1

From Middle English grim, from Old English grim, grimm, from Proto-West Germanic *grimm, from Proto-Germanic *grimmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem- (“to resound, thunder, grumble, roar”). Noun sense derives from adjective, from 1620s.

Adjective

grim (comparative grimmer, superlative grimmest)

1. dismal and gloomy, cold and forbidding

   Life was grim in many northern industrial towns.
2. rigid and unrelenting

   His grim determination enabled him to win.

3. ghastly or sinister

   A grim castle overshadowed the village.

   • 2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, “The Hunger Games”, in AV Club:

     In movie terms, it suggests Paul Verhoeven in Robocop/Starship Troopers mode, an R-rated bloodbath where the grim spectacle of children murdering each other on television is bread-and-circuses for the age of reality TV, enforced by a totalitarian regime to keep the masses at bay.

4. disgusting; gross

   – Wanna see the dead rat I found in my fridge?
   – Mate, that is grim!

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

grim (plural grims)

1. (obsolete) specter, ghost, haunting spirit

Verb

grim (third-person singular simple present grims, present participle grimming, simple past and past participle grimmed)

1. (transitive, rare) To make grim; to give a stern or forbidding aspect to.

Etymology 2

From Middle English grim, grym, greme, from Old English *grimu, *grimmu, from Proto-Germanic *grimmį̄ (“anger, wrath”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrem- (“to resound, thunder, grumble, roar”). Cognate with Middle Dutch grimme, Middle High German grimme f (“anger”), modern German Grimm m.

Noun

grim (uncountable)

1. (archaic) Anger, wrath.

Derived terms

• grimful
• grimless

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɡ̊ʁɛmˀ]

Etymology

From Old Norse grimmr, from Proto-Germanic *grimmaz.

Adjective

grim

1. ugly, unsightly
2. nasty

Inflection

Kalasha

Verb

grim

1. taking

Old English

Alternative forms

• grimm

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *grimm, from Proto-Germanic *grimmaz.

Cognate with Old Saxon grim, Old High German grim (German grimm, grimmig), Old Norse grimmr (Danish grim, Swedish grym); and with Greek χρεμίζω (chremízo), Old Church Slavonic грьмѣти (grĭměti) (Russian греме́ть (gremétʹ)), Latvian gremt.

Perhaps related in Old Norse to veiled or hooded, Grim is also an alternate name for Odin, who often went around disguised; compare the hooded appearance of The Grim Reaper.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡrim/

Adjective

grim

1. fierce, severe, terrible, savage, cruel, angry

Declension

Descendants

• Middle English: grim
  • Scots: grim
  • English: grim

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