ghoulish

English

Etymology

From ghoul +‎ -ish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡuː.lɪʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːlɪʃ

Adjective

ghoulish (comparative more ghoulish, superlative most ghoulish)

1. Of or pertaining to ghouls.

   Synonym: ghouly

   • 1910 January 12, Ameen Rihani, “Via Dolorosa”, in The Book of Khalid, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published October 1911, →OCLC, book the first (In the Exchange), page 29:

     Ay, even the droll humour and solidity of Khalid, are shaken, aroused, by the ghoulish greed, the fell inhumanity of these sharpers.

2. Of or pertaining to corpses and graverobbing.
   • 1922, H. P. Lovecraft, Herbert West: Reanimator‎^[1]:

     We had that afternoon dug a grave in the cellar, and would have to fill it by dawn -- for although we had fixed a lock on the house, we wished to shun even the remotest risk of a ghoulish discovery.

3. Fascinated by corpses.
   • 2024, Elie Honig, How the 2024 Election Will Reshape the Supreme Court, in: New York Magazine, October 25 2024

     We’ll be neither ghoulish nor squeamish about death; it happens, the chances increase with age, and we need to take the possibility into consideration.

Translations

of or pertaining to ghouls

of or pertaining to corpses and graverobbing

fascinated by corpses

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} makaber

See also

• ghastly
• macabre