Word Study
gruesome
CIDE DICTIONARY
gruesome, a. [From a word akin to Dan. gru horror, terror + -some; cf. D. gruwzaam, G. grausam. Cf. Grisly.].
Ugly; frightful. [1913 Webster]
"Grewsome sights of war." [1913 Webster]
gruesome, a.
Ugly; frightful. Same as grewsome. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
gruesome, adj. horrible, grisly, disgusting.
Derivative
gruesomely adv. gruesomeness n.
Etymology
Sc. grue to shudder f. Scand. + -SOME(1)
THESAURUS
gruesome
abominable, appalling, astounding, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, baleful, blue, cadaverous, corpselike, daunting, deadly, deathlike, deathly, deathly pale, dire, direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful, eerie, fearsome, fell, forbidding, formidable, foul, frightening, frightful, ghastly, ghostlike, ghostly, ghoulish, grim, grisly, grotesque, haggard, hideous, horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying, livid, loathsome, lurid, macabre, morbid, mortuary, offensive, pale, redoubtable, repellent, repelling, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, schrecklich, shocking, sinister, terrible, terrific, terrifying, tremendous, uncanny, unearthly, wan, weirdROGET THESAURUS
gruesome
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 "gruesome" in Webster Dictionary Online