Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - ghastly

 adjective  (ghastlier; -est)  Etymology: Middle English gastly, from gasten to terrify — more at gast  Date: 14th century  1.  a. terrifyingly horrible to the senses ; frightening a ~ crime  b. intensely unpleasant, disagreeable, or objectionable such a life seems ~ in its emptiness and sterility — Aldous Huxley  2. resembling a ghost  3. obsolete filled with fear  4. very great a ~ mistake  • ghastliness noun  • ~ adverb Synonyms:  ~, grisly, gruesome, macabre, lurid mean horrifying and repellent in appearance or aspect. ~ suggests the terrifying aspects of corpses and ghosts a ~ accident. grisly and gruesome suggest additionally the results of extreme violence or cruelty an unusually grisly murder suffered a gruesome death. macabre implies a morbid preoccupation with the physical aspects of death a macabre tale of premature burial. lurid adds to gruesome the suggestion of shuddering fascination with violent death and especially with murder the lurid details of a crime.