GRUESOME

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gruesome mean? 

• GRUESOME (adjective)
  The adjective GRUESOME has 1 sense:

1. shockingly repellent; inspiring horror

  Familiarity information: GRUESOME used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GRUESOME (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Shockingly repellent; inspiring horror

Synonyms:

ghastly; grim; grisly; gruesome; macabre; sick

Context example:

macabre tortures conceived by madmen

Similar:

alarming (frightening because of an awareness of danger)

Derivation:

gruesomeness (the quality of being ghastly)

 Context examples 

Without waiting for the boy’s acceptance, the captain turned to the sailor who had just finished the gruesome task of sewing up the corpse.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The place was not so gruesome as last night, but oh, how unutterably mean-looking when the sunshine streamed in.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But if you be not careful in this respect, then—He finished his speech in a gruesome way, for he motioned with his hands as if he were washing them.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

“You’ll find nothing gruesome down there,” he said, “only an unhurt man securely made fast to the ring-bolts. Bullets are liable to come aboard, and I don’t want you killed, you know.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The tomb in the day-time, and when wreathed with fresh flowers, had looked grim and gruesome enough; but now, some days afterwards, when the flowers hung lank and dead, their whites turning to rust and their greens to browns; when the spider and the beetle had resumed their accustomed dominance; when time-discoloured stone, and dust-encrusted mortar, and rusty, dank iron, and tarnished brass, and clouded silver-plating gave back the feeble glimmer of a candle, the effect was more miserable and sordid than could have been imagined.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)