Word Study
grisly
CIDE DICTIONARY
grisly, a. [OE, grisly, grislich, AS. grislic, gryslic, fr. grsan to shudder; cf. OD. grijselick horrible, OHG. grisenl?ch, and also AS. gre?san to frighten, and E. gruesome.].
Frightful; horrible; dreadful; harsh; as, grisly locks; a grisly specter. Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
"A man of grisly and stern gravity." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
grisly, adj. (grislier, grisliest) causing horror, disgust, or fear.
Derivative
grisliness n.
Etymology
OE grislic terrifying
THESAURUS
grisly
abhorrent, abominable, appalling, astounding, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, blue, cadaverous, corpselike, deadly, deathlike, deathly, deathly pale, dire, direful, disgusting, dread, dreaded, dreadful, eerie, fell, forbidding, formidable, foul, frightful, ghastly, ghostlike, ghostly, ghoulish, gory, grim, gruesome, haggard, hideous, horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying, livid, loathsome, lurid, macabre, morbid, mortuary, nasty, nauseating, offensive, pale, redoubtable, repellent, repelling, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, schrecklich, shocking, sickening, terrible, terrific, terrifying, tremendous, uncanny, unearthly, wan, weirdROGET THESAURUS
grisly
Ugliness
N ugliness, deformity, inelegance, acomia, disfigurement, want of symmetry, inconcinnity, distortion, squalor, forbidding countenance, vinegar aspect, hanging look, wry face, spretae injuria formae, eyesore, object, witch, hag, figure, sight, fright, monster, dog, woofer, pig, octopus, specter, scarecrow, harridan, satyr, toad, monkey, baboon, Caliban, Aesop, monstrum horrendum informe ingens cui lumen adempt, ugly, ugly as sin, ugly as a toad, ugly as a scarecrow, ugly as a dead monkey, plain, bald (unadorned), homely, ordinary, unornamental, inartistic, unsightly, unseemly, uncomely, unlovely, unshapely, sightless, seemless, not fit to be seen, unbeauteous, unbeautiful, beautiless, semibeautiful, shapeless, misshapen, misproportioned, monstrous, gaunt, dumpy, curtailed of its fair proportions, ill-made, ill- shaped, ill-proportioned, crooked, hard featured, hard visaged, ill-favored, hard-favored, evil-favored, ill-looking, unprepossessing, unattractive, uninviting, unpleasing, graceless, inelegant, ungraceful, ungainly, uncouth, stiff, rugged, rough, gross, rude, awkward, clumsy, slouching, rickety, gawky, lumping, lumpish, lumbering, hulky, hulking, unwieldy, squalid, haggard, grim, grim faced, grim visaged, grisly, ghastly, ghost like, death like, cadaverous, grewsome, gruesome, frightful, hideous, odious, uncanny, forbidding, repellant, repulsive, repugnant, grotesque, bizarre, grody, grody to the max, horrid, horrible, shocking, foul, dingy, gaudy, disfigured, discolored.For further exploring for "grisly" in Webster Dictionary Online