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| Date: | 1300-1400 |
| Origin: | gast 'to frighten' (11-17 centuries) |
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ghast‧ly
1 very bad or unpleasant [= horrible]: 
a ghastly little hotelThe whole thing was a ghastly mistake. The weather was ghastly.
a ghastly little hotelThe whole thing was a ghastly mistake.The weather was ghastly.2 making you very frightened, upset, or shocked : a ghastly accident
a ghastly accident —ghastliness noun [uncountable]
WORD FOCUS: bad WORD FOCUS: bad 
very bad: awful, terrible, horrible, lousy informal, appalling, ghastly, atrocious, horrendous
bad, but not very bad: not very good, mediocre, second-rate, so-so, lacklustre
of bad quality: shoddy, inferior, poor quality, cheap, crummy informal
bad at doing something: be no good at something
very bad at doing something: hopeless, terrible, useless, lousy informal, incompetent
morally bad: evil, wicked, immoral, corrupt, sick, perverted, degenerate
➔ See also bad
