different between insufferable vs ghastly

English

Etymology

in- +? sufferable

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): [?n?s?f??bl?]
• (US) enPR: ?n-s?f'?r-?-b?l, IPA^(key): /?n?s?f??b?l/, [?n?s?f??bl?]

Adjective

insufferable (comparative more insufferable, superlative most insufferable)

1. Not sufferable; very difficult or impossible to endure.
   • 1894, Henry James, The Coxon Fund, ch. 4:

     Saltram was incapable of keeping the engagements which, after their separation, he had entered into with regard to his wife, a deeply wronged, justly resentful, quite irreproachable and insufferable person.

   • 1913, Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country, ch. 13:

     Marvell . . . thought Peter a bore in society and an insufferable nuisance on closer terms.

   • 2011 June 7, "Chaos in Syria," Time:

     The oppressive heat has become insufferable in Syria — and as the temperature climbs, emotions get harder to contain.

Synonyms

• intolerable, unbearable

Related terms

• insufferableness
• insufferably

Translations

References

• insufferable at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology

From a conflation of a derivation of Old English g?stan (“to torment, frighten”) with the suffix -lic, and ghostly (which was also spelt "gastlich" in Middle English). Equivalent to ghast/gast + -ly. Spelling with 'gh' developed 16th century due to the conflation.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /????s(t).li/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??æs(t).li/

Adjective

ghastly (comparative ghastlier, superlative ghastliest)

1. Like a ghost in appearance; death-like; pale; pallid; dismal.
   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

     Each turned his face with a ghastly pang.
2. Horrifyingly shocking.
3. Extremely bad.

Synonyms

• (sickly pale): See also Thesaurus:pallid
• (horrifyingly shocking): lurid

Translations

Adverb

ghastly (not comparable)

1. In a ghastly manner.
   • 1921, William Dudley Pelley, The Fog: A Novel, page 196:

     Johnathan's lips moved ghastly before his voice would come. "So I'm crazy, am I? And if I choose to murder you, what would you do?"