adjective
1.
disturbingly frightening or repellent in appearance or aspect
the ghastly sight of burned and rotting bodies
Synonyms: grim, grisly, gruesome, hideous, horrible, horrid, horrifying, lurid, macabre, terrible, terrifying
Related Word: appalling, awful, dreadful, frightening, frightful, shocking; disgustful, disgusting, nauseant, nauseating, sickening
Contrasted words: appealing, attractive, charming, pleasant, touching; acceptable, bearable; trivial, unimportant
2.
resembling or suggestive of a ghost
a ghastly form slightly visible through the fog
Synonyms: cadaverous, corpselike, deathlike, ghostlike, ghostly, shadowy, spectral
Related Word: ashen, livid, lurid, pale; uncanny, weird; gruesome, haggard, macabre; dim, faint, weak; charnel, mortuary, sepulchral