grisly
pronunciation
How to pronounce grisly in British English:
UK [ˈgrɪzli]
How to pronounce grisly in American English:
US [ˈɡrɪzli]
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- Adjective:
- shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
Word Origin
- grisly
- grisly: [OE] Middle English had a verb grise ‘be terrified’, which points back via an unrecorded Old English *grīsan to a West Germanic *grīdenoting ‘fear, terror’, from which grisly would have been formed. Dutch has the parallel formation grijzelijk. In 1900, the Oxford English Dictionary described grisly as ‘now only arch and lit’, but since then its fortunes have recovered strongly, and it is now firmly part of the general language.
- grisly (adj.)
- Old English grislic (in compounds) "horrible, dreadful," from root of grisan "to shudder, fear," a general Germanic word (cognates: Old Frisian grislik "horrible," Middle Dutch grisen "to shudder," Dutch griezelen, German grausen "to shudder, fear," Old High German grisenlik "horrible;" of unknown origin; Watkins connects it with the PIE root *ghrei- "to rub," on notion of "to grate on the mind" (see chrism). See also gruesome, to which it probably is connected in some way. Related: Grisliness.
Example
- 1. It is rare , however , and it holds a grisly secret !
- 2. It is now inured to the grisly litany of death and destruction in the area .
- 3. A grisly new feature of the carnage is that people are not just being shot .
- 4. In earlier trials prosecutors have often had to show that the defendants were responsible for specific , especially grisly crimes .
- 5. There is an ongoing and grisly contest between them to see who can kill an enemy soldier from the farthest distance away .