ghostly
English · Thesaurus
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ghostly
- /ˈɡoʊstli/ US
Rhymes with (General American) -oʊstli
Where it comes from
From Middle English gostly, gastlich, from Old English gāstlīċ (“spiritual, holy, clerical (not lay), ghastly, ghostly, spectral”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaistalīk (“spiritual”), equivalent to ghost + -ly. Cognate with Scots ghaistly, gaistly (“spiritual, ghastly, terrifying”), West Frisian geastlik (“spiritual, clerical, religious”), Dutch geestelijk (“spiritual, clerical, ecclesiastical”), German geistlich (“spiritual, sacred, religious”), Danish geistlig (“ecclesiastical, clerical”).
adjective ghostlier · ghostliest
- Of or pertaining to ghosts or spirits. a ghostly figure with a hood
-
Spooky; frightening.
A ghostly hush fell.
Similar: affreux, alarming, spine-tingling, appalling, awful, eldritch, buggish, butt-clenching, buttock-clenching, dismayful, dreadful, fearful
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual. a ghostly confessor
Similar: apparitional, ghastly, ghostish, ghostlike, ghostly, phantomic, phantomlike, phantasmal, phantasmic, spectral, spooky, wraithlike, wraithy
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: spectral, ghostlike, phantasmal, spiritual, apparitional, supernatural, eerie, phantom, wraithlike, spookish, shadowy, unearthly, otherworldly, spiritlike, incorporeal, disembodied
adjective
Similar: apparitional, ghastly, ghostish, ghostlike, ghostly, phantomic, phantomlike, phantasmal, phantasmic, spectral, spooky, wraithlike, wraithy
Translations
Every language
adj pertaining to ghosts
| Español | fantasmal |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 유령의 yuryeong'ui |
| हिन्दी | भुतहा bhuthā |
| Português | fantasmagórico |
| Français | fantomatique |
| Italiano | spettrale, fantasmatico, spiritico |
| Ελληνικά | πνευματικός pnevmatikós, άυλος áylos |
| Русский | при́зрачный prízračnyj |
adj spooky, frightening
| हिन्दी | भुतहा bhuthā |
|---|---|
| Português | fantasmagórico |
| Ελληνικά | στοιχειωμένος stoicheioménos |
Talk about this word "ghostly." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ghostly. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. ghostly. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ghostly "ghostly." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ghostly.Cite this
@misc{ghostly_2026,
title = {ghostly},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ghostly},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
