ghoulish

adjective

ghoul·ish ˈgü-lish

Synonyms of ghoulish next

: resembling, suggesting, or appropriate to a ghoul

a ghoulish appearance

I knew not at what moment I might plunge headlong into some terrible pit or meet with some of the ghoulish creatures that inhabit these lower worlds …—

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Many of their sculptures depict the ghoulish spirits … and their paternal leader, Baron Samedi, the lord of death, decay and grotesque eroticism.—

Holland Cotter

: relating to, dealing with, or morbidly delighting in things considered shocking or gruesome

ghoulish thoughts

ghoulish humor

… the grieving family asked for his help in a rather ghoulish affair.—

Behn Cervantes

… his photographs present the aftermath of battles somewhat in the manner of ghoulish still lifes …—

Naomi Rosenblum

Annie was a fine, strapping girl, and was evidently labouring under intense excitement, mingled with a certain ghoulish enjoyment of the tragedy.—

Agatha Christie

… he offers the reader a deliciously ghoulish potted history of absurd burial techniques.—

Lawrence Osborne

ghoulishly adverb

laughing ghoulishly

Lurid, violent, … morbidly sentimental and ghoulishly capricious, this is the kind of painting which grabs the modern imagination for the most dubious of reasons. —

Jonathan Keates

ghoulishness noun

… a zany cross between wild farce and macabre ghoulishness … —

John Percival

Examples of ghoulish in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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While the original Nosferatu is actually an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the ghoulish Count Orlok is quite different from Count Dracula’s charming, handsome nobleman. —

Dani Di Placido, Forbes, 10 Jan. 2025 The mod itself doesn’t actually change the gameplay of Marvel Rivals in any meaningful way, instead serving as little more than way to immediate make everyone in the game lobby cringe with its ghoulish design that looks more like a melting Michael Myers mask than anything else. —

Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 9 Jan. 2025 Louis Jourdan, Count Dracula (1977) This BBC TV movie is a faithful adaptation of the book, and Jourdan plays a Dracula who teems with ghoulish sophistication as a refined intellectual with an aptitude for language and etymology. —

Celia Mattison, Vulture, 27 Dec. 2024 Whether the ghoulish gambit of the movie’s Christmas release pays off remains to be seen. —

Mike Calia, NBC News, 24 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for ghoulish