Ominous vs Ghastly - What's the difference?
ominous | ghastly |
Of or pertaining to an omen or to omens; being or exhibiting an omen; significant.
Specifically, giving indication of a coming ill; being an evil omen; threatening; portentous; inauspicious.
* California poll support for Jerry Brown's tax increases has ominous implications for U.S. taxpayers too Los Angeles Times Headline April 25, 2011
* {{quote-news
, year=2012
, date=April 29
, author=Nathan Rabin
, title=TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)
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 ominous and ghastly
is that ominous is of or pertaining to an omen or to omens; being or exhibiting an omen; significant while ghastly is like a ghost in appearance; deathlike; pale; pallid; dismal.As an adverb ghastly is
in a ghastly manner.ominous
English
Adjective
(en adjective)citation, page= , passage=The idea of a merchant selling both totems of pure evil and frozen yogurt (he calls it frogurt!) is amusing in itself, as is the idea that frogurt could be cursed, but it’s really the Shopkeeper’s quicksilver shift from ominous doomsaying to chipper salesmanship that sells the sequence.}}
Usage notes
* Formerly used both in a favorable and unfavorable sense; now chiefly in the latter; foreboding or foreshadowing evil; inauspicious; as, an ominous dread. * Nouns to which "ominous" is often applied: sign, silence, warning, cloud, note, sound, shadow, threat, music, tone, implication, message, presence, development, voice, portent, turn, sky, figure, dream, event, trend, change, day, beginning, growl, cry, signal, pattern.Synonyms
* portentous * threateningDerived terms
* ominously * ominousnessExternal links
* *ghastly
English
Adjective
(er)Synonyms
* luridAdverb
(-)- He turned ghastly pale on hearing the news.