grisly

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈɡrɪzli/ UK /ˈɡrɪzli/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
causing horror or disgust; gruesome

The newspaper spared readers the grisly details of the crime.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · causing horror or disgust;... gruesome ghastly macabre horrific gory horrid grim

Opposites

pleasant delightful wholesome

Word family

Derived forms grisliness

Related forms grisegruesome

Etymology

From Old English grislic ('horrible, dreadful'), related to grisan ('to shudder, dread'), from Proto-Germanic *grisilīkaz.

grislic Old English *grīsaną Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# grisly

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈɡrɪzli/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈɡrɪzli/

## Meanings
1. causing horror or disgust; gruesome

## Examples
- The newspaper spared readers the grisly details of the crime.

## Synonyms
- gruesome
- ghastly
- macabre
- horrific
- gory
- horrid
- grim

## Antonyms
- pleasant
- delightful
- wholesome

## Derived Forms
- grisliness

## Related Forms
- grise
- gruesome

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: grislic
- Root: *grīsaną

## Etymology
From Old English grislic ('horrible, dreadful'), related to grisan ('to shudder, dread'), from Proto-Germanic *grisilīkaz.

## AI Etymology
Grisly comes from Old English grislic ('horrible, dreadful'), related to grisan ('to shudder, dread'), from Proto-Germanic *grisilīkaz. The development is chiefly inherited within English and its older relatives, with the later form continuing material already present in the language's ancestry. In present use, it is used as an adjective meaning "causing horror or disgust; gruesome", so the historical material remains connected with the current sense rather than standing as bare ancestry. The wider English family includes derivatives such as grisliness and related forms such as grise and gruesome, showing how the same historical material continues to organize neighboring vocabulary. The named historical forms include Old English grislic and Proto-Germanic *grīsaną, keeping the history tied to concrete forms rather than a loose resemblance. Its semantic neighborhood is marked by gruesome, ghastly, macabre, and horrific on one side and contrasts such as pleasant, delightful, and wholesome on the other, locating the modern specialization without adding a new origin story.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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