1
: resembling, suggesting, or appropriate to a ghoul
a ghoulish appearance
I knew not at what moment I might plunge headlong into some terrible pit or meet with some of the ghoulish creatures that inhabit these lower worlds …—
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice BurroughsMany of their sculptures depict the ghoulish spirits … and their paternal leader, Baron Samedi, the lord of death, decay and grotesque eroticism.—Holland Cotter
Holland Cotter2
: relating to, dealing with, or morbidly delighting in things considered shocking or gruesome
ghoulish thoughts
ghoulish humor
… the grieving family asked for his help in a rather ghoulish affair.—Behn Cervantes
Behn Cervantes… his photographs present the aftermath of battles somewhat in the manner of ghoulish still lifes …—Naomi Rosenblum
Naomi RosenblumAnnie was a fine, strapping girl, and was evidently labouring under intense excitement, mingled with a certain ghoulish enjoyment of the tragedy.—Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie… he offers the reader a deliciously ghoulish potted history of absurd burial techniques.—Lawrence Osborne
Lawrence Osborne
ghoulishly
adverb
laughing ghoulishly
Lurid, violent, … morbidly sentimental and ghoulishly capricious, this is the kind of painting which grabs the modern imagination for the most dubious of reasons.
—Jonathan Keates
Jonathan Keates
ghoulishness
noun
… a zany cross between wild farce and macabre ghoulishness …
—John Percival
John Percival
Examples of ghoulish in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
After provoking the ire of the college kids, Madea and her clan are subjected to a series of ghoulish pranks.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 14 Sep. 2025
While not officially a weekend, the Friday observance means many people will be able to celebrate the ghoulish evening without school or work looming.
—Melina Khan, USA Today, 12 Sep. 2025
Every trip to the electric chair is horrifying; a sequence where an intentionally botched execution ignites a still-living prisoner's screaming head in ghoulish blue flames is up there with any supernatural fright King's ever conceived.
—James Grebey, Time, 12 Sep. 2025
While the actual killings have stopped, the Ripper continues to call the loved ones of his victims to torment them with ghoulish details of the murders.
—Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ghoulish
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Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 14 Sep. 2025
While not officially a weekend, the Friday observance means many people will be able to celebrate the ghoulish evening without school or work looming.
—Melina Khan, USA Today, 12 Sep. 2025
Every trip to the electric chair is horrifying; a sequence where an intentionally botched execution ignites a still-living prisoner's screaming head in ghoulish blue flames is up there with any supernatural fright King's ever conceived.
—James Grebey, Time, 12 Sep. 2025
While the actual killings have stopped, the Ripper continues to call the loved ones of his victims to torment them with ghoulish details of the murders.
—Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 27 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ghoulish
Cite this Entry
“Ghoulish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ghoulish. Accessed 21 Sep. 2025.
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