Ghastly vs Homely - What's the difference?

Ghastly is a related term of homely.

As adjectives the difference between ghastly and homely

is that ghastly is like a ghost in appearance; deathlike; pale; pallid; dismal while homely is (dated) lacking in beauty or elegance, plain in appearance, physically unattractive.

As an adverb ghastly

is in a ghastly manner.

ghastly

English

Adjective

(er)

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.

Synonyms

* lurid

Adverb

(-)

In a ghastly manner.

He turned ghastly pale on hearing the news.

homely

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (Scotland)

Adjective

(en-adj)

(dated) Lacking in beauty or elegance, plain in appearance, physically unattractive.

There is none so homely but loves a looking-glass.

* 1958 , , Lolita , Chapter 15

You see, she'' sees herself as a starlet; ''I see her as a sturdy, healthy but decidedly homely kid.

(archaic) Characteristic of or belonging to home; domestic.

On intimate or friendly terms with (someone); familiar; at home (with a person); intimate.

* 1563 , , Chapter on William Thorpe

With all these men I was right homely , and communed with them long and oft.

Domestic; tame.

Personal; private.

Friendly; kind; gracious; cordial.

(archaic) Simple; plain; familiar; unelaborate; unadorned.

* 1731 , , Strephon and Chloe, Lines 211-212

Now Strephon daily entertains / His Chloe in the homeliest strains.

* 2001 , Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography , Cambridge University Press (ISBN 0-521-78512-X), page 167,

There is no simple way to define precisely a complex arrangement of parts, however homely the object may appear to be.

Antonyms

* comely