Standard Lemma guide

grisly

adj · adv · noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɡɹɪzli/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪzli
  • homophone: grizzly
  • CMU ARPABET: G R IH1 Z L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Horrifyingly repellent; gruesome, terrifying.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The photographs of the killings depict a grisly scene.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: grisy, gristly, grizzly, affreux, alarming, spine-tingling, appalling, awful, eldritch, buggish, butt-clenching, buttock-clenching, dismayful, dreadful, fearful, flaysome, flesh-crawling, formidable, freaky, frightening, frightensome, frightful, ghastly, ghostly, grisly, hair-curling, hair-raising, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying, horripilating, pulse-pounding, scaring, scary, shocking, skin-crawling, terrible, terrifying, terrorsome

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Obsolete form of grizzly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: grey-headed, grizzled, hoary, gray / grey, gray-headed / grey-headed, grey-haired / gray-haired, grisly, grizzly, mouldy, silver-haired, silvery-haired, white-haired

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Misspelling of gristly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, misspelling

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adv

Meaning 4

In a horrible or terrible manner; in a terrifying way.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Obsolete form of grizzly (“type of bear”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

adjective satellite

Meaning 6

shockingly repellent; inspiring horror

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • ghastly wounds
  • the grim aftermath of the bombing
  • the grim task of burying the victims
  • a grisly murder
  • gruesome evidence of human sacrifice
  • macabre tales of war and plague in the Middle ages
  • macabre tortures conceived by madmen

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ghastly, grim, gruesome, macabre, sick

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English grisely, grysly, grissliȝ, griselich, grislich, from Old English grisliċ (“grisly, horrible; dreadful, horrid”), from grīsan (“to shudder with horror; to tremble, to be terrified; to make tremble, to terrify; to agrise, grise”) (unattested but implied in āgrīsan) + -lic (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘characteristic of, pertaining to’). The word may also be an aphetic form of Old English ongrislic, agrisenliċ, the past participle of agrīsan (“to agrise”). Compare Danish grusom, Swedish gräslig, Middle Dutch grezelijc (modern Dutch griezelig), Middle High German grisenlich (modern German grässlich, grausen).

From grisle (“horror, terror”) + -ly; compare Middle Dutch griselike, Middle Low German grislike.

Across languages

Translations

34 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: страшен (strašen) — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Bulgarian: ужасен (užasen) — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Bulgarian: зловещ (zlovešt) — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Danish: grusom — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Dutch: afgrijselijk — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Dutch: griezelig — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Esperanto: malbelega — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Finnish: kammottava — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • French: épouvantable — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Galician: macabro — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • German: grässlich — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Greek: φοβερός (foverós) — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Greek: φριχτός (frichtós) — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Hungarian: rémes — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Hungarian: szörnyű — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Irish: scanrúil — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Japanese: 恐ろしい (osoroshī) — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Northern Kurdish: erjeng — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Latvian: šaušalīgs — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Māori: wetiweti — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Māori: whakaweriweri — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Norwegian: uhyggelig, nifs, fæl — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Polish: potworny — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Polish: zatrważający — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Portuguese: arrepiante — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Portuguese: horrível — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Russian: отврати́тельный (otvratítelʹnyj) — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Spanish: macabro — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Spanish: horripilante — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Spanish: repugnante — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Spanish: espantoso — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Spanish: espeluznante — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Swedish: gräsligt — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome
  • Swedish: ohyggligt — horrifyingly repellent; terrifying, gruesome