different between grisly vs frightful

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /????zli/
• Homophone: grizzly
• Hyphenation: gris?ly

Etymology 1

From Middle English grisely, grysly, grissli?, griselich, grislich, from Old English grisli? (“grisly, horrible; dreadful, horrid”), from gr?san (“to shudder with horror; to tremble, to be terrified; to make tremble, to terrify; to agrise, grise”) (unattested but implied in ?gr?san) + -lic (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘characteristic of, pertaining to’).

The word may also be an aphetic form of Old English ongrislic, agrisenli?, the past participle of agr?san (“to agrise”).

Compare Danish grusom, Swedish gräslig, Middle Dutch grezelijc (modern Dutch griezelig), Middle High German grisenlich (modern German grässlich, grausen).

Adjective

grisly (comparative grislier, superlative grisliest)

1. Horrifyingly repellent; gruesome, terrifying.

   Synonyms: (obsolete) grisy, gristly, (misspellings) grizzly; see also Thesaurus:frightening
2. Misspelling of gristly.
3. Misspelling of grizzly.

Usage notes

Not to be confused with gristly or grizzly.

Alternative forms

• griesly, grislie (obsolete)

Derived terms

• grislily
• grisliness
• ungrisly

Related terms

• grise

Translations

Etymology 2

From grisle (“horror, terror”) +? -ly; compare Middle Dutch griselike, Middle Low German grislike.

Adverb

grisly (comparative more grisly, superlative most grisly)

1. (obsolete) In a horrible or terrible manner; in a terrifying way.

Synonyms

• grimly
• horribly
• terribly

References

English

Alternative forms

• frightfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English frightful (“afraid”), from Old English forhtful (“fainthearted, timorous”). Equivalent to fright +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• enPR: fr?t?f?l, IPA^(key): /?f?a?tf?l/
• Hyphenation: fright?ful

Adjective

frightful (comparative more frightful, superlative most frightful)

1. (obsolete) Full of fright, whether
   1. Afraid, frightened.
      • c. 1250, Genesis and Exodus, line 3459:

        Ðis frigtful ðus a-biden,
        Quiles ðis dai?es for ben gliden.

   2. Timid, fearful, easily frightened.
2. Full of something causing fright, whether
   1. Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming.
   2. (hyperbolic) Unpleasant, dreadful, awful (also used as an intensifier).
      • 1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 1:

        Francis Urquhart: What a frightful little man. Where do they find them these days?
        Tim Stamper: God knows. If I had a dog like that, I'd shoot it.
        Francis Urquhart: Well, yes. Quite.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:frightening
• See Thesaurus:bad

Derived terms

• frightfully

Translations

Adverb

frightful (comparative more frightful, superlative most frightful)

1. (dialect) Frightfully; very.

References

• Webster's, "frightful", 1913.
• Oxford English Dictionary, "frightful, adj.", 1898.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• frigtful

Etymology

From Old English forhtful; equivalent to fright +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?frixt?ful/

Adjective

frightful

1. (rare) afraid, frightened

Descendants

• English: frightful

References

• “frightful, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-05.