ghoulish

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ghoul

(go͞ol)

1. An evil spirit or demon in Muslim folklore believed to plunder graves and feed on corpses.

2. In popular folklore, an undead or subhuman being, especially one that eats human flesh.

3. A grave robber.

4. One who delights in the revolting, morbid, or loathsome.

[Arabic ġūl, from ġāla, to seize, snatch; see ġwl in Semitic roots.]

ghoul′ish adj.

ghoul′ish·ly adv.

ghoul′ish·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ghoulish

(ˈɡuːlɪʃ)

adj

of or relating to ghouls; morbid or disgusting; unhealthily interested in death

ˈghoulishly adv

ˈghoulishness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Adj.

ghoulish - suggesting the horror of death and decay; "morbid details"

morbid

offensive - unpleasant or disgusting especially to the senses; "offensive odors"

ghoulish

adjective macabre, sick (informal), disgusting, hideous, gruesome, grisly, horrid, morbid, unwholesome They are there only to satisfy their ghoulish curiosity.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

ghoulish

adjective

Perversely bad, cruel, or wicked:

devilish, diabolic, diabolical, fiendish, hellish, infernal, ogreish, satanic, satanical.

Translations

makaber

μακάβριος

demoniaco

ghoulish

[ˈguːlɪʃ] ADJ [practice, activity] → macabro; [person, curiosity] → morboso

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

ghoulish

[ˈguːlɪʃ] adj [tastes] → morbide

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

ghoulish

adj → makaber; description → schaurig

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

ghoulish

[ˈguːlɪʃ] adj (tastes) → macabro/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in classic literature ?

It is a charming faculty, but one often abused by those who are conscious of its possession: for there is something ghoulish in the avidity with which they will pounce upon the misfortune of their friends so that they may exercise their dexterity.

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This was more than Lady Arabella's curious dual nature could stand-- the ghoulish element in her rose triumphant, and she abandoned all idea of marriage with Edgar Caswall, gloating fiendishly over the thought of revenge.

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He remembered the luncheon they had eaten together when first he came to Paris and the ghoulish appetite which had disgusted him: he realised now that she ate in that manner because she was ravenous.

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They are ten or twelve feet in height when standing erect; their arms are very short and fashioned after the manner of an elephant's trunk, being sinuous; the body is hairless and ghoulish blue except for a broad band of white which encircles the protruding, single eye, the pupil, iris and ball of which are dead white.

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Such a nice young gentleman, she interjected with her piously ghoulish expression.

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Its hairless body was a strange and ghoulish blue, except for a broad band of white which encircled its protruding, single eye: an eye that was all dead white--pupil, iris, and ball.

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At my back was the forest, pruned and trimmed like the sward to parklike symmetry by the browsing of the ghoulish plant men.

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The men were but little stronger for their ghoulish repast, for the want of water was by far the greatest agony with which they had to contend.

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Of the many things Lucy was noticing to-day, not the least remarkable was this: the ghoulish fashion in which respectable people will nibble after blood.

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In the morning she received a visit from Sarah--the second in all the period of her marriage; and she could easily guess her sister-in-law's ghoulish errand.

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'And I like her too ill to attempt it,' said he, 'except in a very ghoulish fashion.

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Annie was a fine, strapping girl, and was evidently labouring under intense excitement, mingled with a certain ghoulish enjoyment of the tragedy.