Word
gruesome
Phoneticsgrue·some
US/ˈɡɹusəm/
UK/ɡɹˈuːsʌm/
Definition
adj. extremely unpleasant and shocking because it involves death or injury. You use this to describe things that are very bloody or scary to look at.
adj. causing great horror or repulsion; extremely grisly or gory. Often describes physical injuries, crime scenes, or detailed accounts of violence.
Examples
“The police found gruesome evidence at the crime scene.”
“The horror movie was criticized for its gruesome special effects, which many viewers found too realistic to watch.”
“Historians often omit the more gruesome details of medieval warfare to focus on the strategic movements of the armies involved.”
Examples
simple
“The police found gruesome evidence at the crime scene.”
contextual
“The horror movie was criticized for its gruesome special effects, which many viewers found too realistic to watch.”
complex
“Historians often omit the more gruesome details of medieval warfare to focus on the strategic movements of the armies involved.”
Usage
Typically used to describe visual scenes or detailed descriptions of violence; often follows linking verbs like 'look' or 'sound'.
Real-World Examples
“The man immediately called the emergency number 112 to report the gruesome discovery.” “The real tragedy of Solaris isn’t the gruesome deaths of the scientists, but what one of them calls “the failure to make contact, the lack of response”.” Etymology
From grue (“(archaic except Northern England, Scotland) to be frightened; to shudder with fear”) + -some (suffix meaning ‘characterized by some specific condition or quality, usually to a considerable degree’ forming adjectives and nouns), probably popularized by the Scottish novelist and poet Walter Scott (1771–1832): see, for example, the 1816 quotation. cognates * Danish grusom (“cruel; horrible”) * Middle Dutch grousaem, grusaem (modern Dutch gruwzaam (“cruel; gruesome”)) * Middle High German grûsam, grûwesam (modern German grausam (“cruel”)) * Norwegian Bokmål grusom (“cruel; horrible”)
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Idioms
gruesome twosome — A pair of people who go together, such as two friends, siblings, a married couple, etc., especially if they are mischievous, cause trouble, do not get along well, or have an unpleasant appearance.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/gruesome