different between ghostly vs mystical

English

Etymology

From Middle English gostly, gastlich, from Old English g?stl?? (“spiritual, holy, clerical (not lay), ghastly, ghostly, spectral”), equivalent to ghost +? -ly. Cognate with Scots gostly, gastly, gaistlie (“spiritual, ghastly, terrifying”), West Frisian geastlik (“spiritual, clerical, religious”), Dutch geestelijk (“spiritual, clerical, ecclesiastical”), German geistlich (“spiritual, sacred, religious”), Danish geistlig (“ecclesiastical, clerical”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??o?stli/

Adjective

ghostly (comparative ghostlier, superlative ghostliest)

1. Of or pertaining to ghosts or spirits.

2. Spooky; frightening.
   • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka (republished by Eland, 2019; p. 35):

     Scores of coconut-shell fires blazed with their characteristic glaring white flame, throwing grotesque shadows on the brown thatched huts, dancing in fairylike shimmerings among the domes of coconut fronds, casting ghostly reaches of light through the adjacent graveyards, and silhouetting the forms of pareu-clad natives at work cleaning their fish or laying them on the live coals to broil.

   • 2019, Dave Eggers, The Parade, Vintage Books N.Y., p. 134

     His lips were chapped and lined with a ghostly purple fringe.

3. Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual.

   a ghostly confessor

   • Save and defend us from our ghostly enemies.

   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living

     one of the ghostly children of St. Jerome

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:ghostly

Translations

See also

• ghastly

English

Alternative forms

• mysticall (obsolete)
• mystickal (obsolete)

Etymology

From mystic +? -al

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?st?k?l/, /?m?st?kl?/

Adjective

mystical (comparative more mystical, superlative most mystical)

1. Relating to mystics or mysticism.
2. Having a spiritual or magical significance that transcends human understanding.
3. Inspiring a sense of spiritual mystery, awe, and fascination.

Related terms

• mysterious
• mystery
• mystic
• mysticality
• mysticalness
• mysticism
• mystify
• mystique

Translations

Further reading

• mystical in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.