Egregious vs Ghastly - What's the difference?
egregious | ghastly |
Exceptional, conspicuous, outstanding, most usually in a negative fashion.
* 16thC , ,
* c1605 , , Act 2, Scene 3,
* 22 March 2012 , Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games [http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-hunger-games,71293/]
* '>citation
Outrageously bad; shocking.
Like a ghost in appearance; deathlike; pale; pallid; dismal.
*(Samuel Taylor Coleridge) (1772-1834)
*:Each turned his face with a ghastly pang.
* (1800-1859)
*:His face was so ghastly that it could scarcely be recognized.
Horrifyingly shocking.
*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
*:Mangled with ghastly wounds through plate and mail.
*
*:They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.
Extremely bad.
:
In a ghastly manner.
As adjectives the difference between egregious and ghastly
is that egregious is exceptional, conspicuous, outstanding, most usually in a negative fashion while ghastly is like a ghost in appearance; deathlike; pale; pallid; dismal.As an adverb ghastly is
in a ghastly manner.egregious
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- The student has made egregious errors on the examination.
- I cannot cross my arms, or sigh "Ah me," / "Ah me forlorn!" egregious foppery! / I cannot buss thy fill, play with thy hair, / Swearing by Jove, "Thou art most debonnaire!"
- My lord, you give me most egregious indignity.
- When the goal is simply to be as faithful as possible to the material—as if a movie were a marriage, and a rights contract the vow—the best result is a skillful abridgment, one that hits all the important marks without losing anything egregious .
Usage notes
The negative meaning arose in the late 16th century, probably originating in sarcasm. Before that, it meant outstanding in a good way. Webster also gives “distinguished” as an archaic form, and notes that its present form often has an unpleasant connotation (e.g., "an egregious error" ). It generally precedes such epithets as “rogue,” “rascal,” "ass," “blunderer”.ghastly
English
Adjective
(er)Synonyms
* luridAdverb
(-)- He turned ghastly pale on hearing the news.