variants
or less commonly grewsome
: inspiring horror or repulsion : grisly
gruesome stories of wounded comrades
gruesomely
adverb
gruesomeness
noun
Synonyms
Examples of gruesome in a Sentence
The police report described the scene in gruesome detail.
didn't stick around to hear the gruesome details of the car accident
Recent Examples on the Web
Ten people were murdered in the New York City subway system last year — including the recent, random and gruesome immolation of a homeless New Jersey woman asleep on a Brooklyn train — up from five murders in 2023.
—
Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News, 16 Jan. 2025
Did Hawthorne base these characters on the Rev. Ephraim Avery and his young congregant Sarah Maria Cornell, whose gruesome death in 1832 in Fall River, 50 miles south of Boston, shocked all of New England?
—Liesl Schillinger, New York Times, 10 Jan. 2025
Cincinnati Police officers who initially responded to the call were advised to turn off their body cameras due to the gruesome nature of Kingsley's injuries.
—Rachel McRady, People.com, 2 Jan. 2025
One of Baade’s ancestors lived through a particularly violent and gruesome experience.
—Rachel Elspeth Gross, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for gruesome 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News, 16 Jan. 2025
Did Hawthorne base these characters on the Rev. Ephraim Avery and his young congregant Sarah Maria Cornell, whose gruesome death in 1832 in Fall River, 50 miles south of Boston, shocked all of New England?
—Liesl Schillinger, New York Times, 10 Jan. 2025
Cincinnati Police officers who initially responded to the call were advised to turn off their body cameras due to the gruesome nature of Kingsley's injuries.
—Rachel McRady, People.com, 2 Jan. 2025
One of Baade’s ancestors lived through a particularly violent and gruesome experience.
—Rachel Elspeth Gross, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for gruesome
Articles Related to gruesome
Dictionary Entries Near gruesome
Cite this Entry
“Gruesome.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gruesome. Accessed 19 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share