1. (adj)ghastly, grim, grisly, gruesome, macabre, sick shockingly repellent; inspiring horror "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"