different between gruesome vs squalid

English

Etymology

From grue (“to shudder”) +? -some. Compare Danish and Norwegian grusom (“horrible”), German grausam (“cruel”), and Dutch gruwzaam (“gruesome; cruel”).

Adjective

gruesome (comparative gruesomer or more gruesome, superlative gruesomest or most gruesome)

1. Repellently frightful and shocking; horrific or ghastly.
   • 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 6

     In the middle of the floor lay a skeleton, every vestige of flesh gone from the bones to which still clung the mildewed and moldered remnants of what had once been clothing. Upon the bed lay a similar gruesome thing, but smaller, while in a tiny cradle near-by was a third, a wee mite of a skeleton.

Translations

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin squalidus, from squalere (“to be rough or dirty”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?skw?l?d/

Adjective

squalid (comparative squalider, superlative squalidest)

1. Extremely dirty and unpleasant.
2. Showing a contemptible lack of moral standards.

   A squalid attempt to buy votes.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

squalid (plural squalids)

1. (zoology) Any member of the family Squalidae of dogfish sharks.
   • 2008, David A. Ebert, James A. Sulikowski, Biology of Skates (page 126)

     Numerous diet studies on squalids have shown that members of this family tend to feed mainly on teleosts and cephalopods […]