beastly

1 of 2

adjective

beast·​ly ˈbēst-lē 

beastlier; beastliest

1

a

: relating to, characteristic of, or resembling an animal : bestial sense 1

beastly strength

Their languages, with complex clicks, were once dismissed as a guttural farrago of beastly sounds.

—Stephen Jay Gould

b

: characterized by cruelty, brutality, or crudeness

Yet this beastly little man was capable of exquisite humor and tenderness.

—Edmund Morris

2

informal : extremely unpleasant, disagreeable, or undesirable

beastly weather

It took him ages to get the beastly stuff out of his eyes and eyebrows, and as for his beard, he had to cut most of it off.

—J. R. R. Tolkien

At the beastly hour of 9:40 a.m. we trudged up to our nosebleed seats, wobbling like prizefighters in the final round, for the NFL preseason game between the Chargers and the Denver Broncos …

—Gary Smith

3

: monstrously large or powerful

… the staging area was packed with an eclectic mix of vehicles, from humble hatchbacks to beastly trucks.

—Lisa Rose

Workers with acetylene torches and a beastly contraption called the "dinosaur" are chewing quickly through the rusting old railroad tunnel …

—Tim O'Neill

beastliness noun

beastly

2 of 2

adverb

chiefly British, informal : to an extreme and usually unpleasant degree

"It's no good pretending it isn't an awkward situation," continued Bob, "because it is. Beastly awkward."

—P. G. Wodehouse

: in an unpleasant or beastly manner

… an ideological predisposition to believe the Soviet Union will embrace comity if only Washington doesn't act beastly.

—Woody West

Synonyms

Adjective

• animalistic
• bestial
• brutal
• brute
• brutish
• feral
• ferine
• subhuman
• swinish

Adverb

• achingly
• almighty
• archly
• awful
• awfully
• badly
• blisteringly
• bone
• colossally
• corking
• cracking
• damn
• damned
• dang
• deadly
• desperately
• eminently
• enormously
• especially
• ever
• exceedingly
• exceeding
• extra
• extremely
• fabulously
• fantastically
• far
• fiercely
• filthy
• frightfully
• full
• greatly
• heavily
• highly
• hugely
• immensely
• incredibly
• intensely
• jolly
• majorly
• mightily
• mighty
• monstrous [chiefly dialect]
• mortally
• most
• much
• particularly
• passing
• rattling
• real
• really
• right
• roaring
• roaringly
• seriously
• severely
• so
• sore
• sorely
• spanking
• specially
• stinking
• such
• super
• supremely
• surpassingly
• terribly
• that
• thumping
• too
• unco
• uncommonly
• vastly
• very
• vitally
• way
• whacking
• wicked
• wildly

Examples of beastly in a Sentence

Adjective

left to shift for himself on an isolated farm, he gradually sank into a beastly, purposeless existence

Adverb

it's beastly hot today

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

This relapse tumor meant Trent was battling a beastly form of the disease. —Dana Hunsinger Benbow, The Indianapolis Star, 7 Oct. 2024

Star Wars icon Mark Hamill mourns Darth Vader actor James Earl Jones: 'RIP dad' One of Jones' most beloved roles was the kindly Mr. Mertle, the owner of the beastly Hercules and Goliath in The Sandlot and The Sandlot 2. —Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 10 Sep. 2024

Adverb

For the surfers ready to take on the beautiful, beastly wave called Teahupo’o, riding inside the deep barrel could mean the thrill of their life – or a dangerous dance with disaster. —Laylan Connelly, Orange County Register, 26 May 2024

As part of the intake stroke, a supercharger pulls and squeezes air into the engine to create that beastly whine. —Kristin Shaw, Popular Science, 3 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Adverb

1655, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

beastly

1 of 2 adjective

beast·​ly ˈbēst-lē 

beastlier; beastliest

1

: of, relating to, or resembling a beast : bestial

2

informal : disagreeable sense 1, unpleasant

beastly weather

beastliness noun

beastly

2 of 2 adverb

chiefly British, informal

: very entry 2 sense 1

a beastly cold day