MACABRE Synonyms: 81 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How is the word 'macabre' different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of macabre are ghastly , grisly , gruesome , and lurid . While all these words mean "horrifying and repellent in appearance or aspect," macabre implies a morbid preoccupation with the physical aspects of death. // a macabre tale of premature burial

Q: When would 'ghastly' be a good substitute for 'macabre'?

The synonyms ghastly and macabre are sometimes interchangeable, but ghastly suggests the terrifying aspects of corpses and ghosts. // a ghastly accident

Q: How are the words 'grisly' and 'gruesome' related as synonyms of 'macabre'?

Both grisly and gruesome suggest additionally the results of extreme violence or cruelty. // an unusually grisly murder // suffered a gruesome death

Q: How do 'lurid' and 'gruesome' relate to one another, in the sense of 'macabre'?

Lurid adds to gruesome the suggestion of shuddering fascination with violent death and especially with murder. // the lurid details of a crime

macabre

adjective

mə-ˈkäb

Definition of macabre next

as in gruesome

extremely disturbing or repellent a macabre movie about animated corpses

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How is the word macabre different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of macabre are ghastly, grisly, gruesome, and lurid. While all these words mean "horrifying and repellent in appearance or aspect," macabre implies a morbid preoccupation with the physical aspects of death.

a macabre tale of premature burial

When would ghastly be a good substitute for macabre?

The synonyms ghastly and macabre are sometimes interchangeable, but ghastly suggests the terrifying aspects of corpses and ghosts.

a ghastly accident

How are the words grisly and gruesome related as synonyms of macabre?

Both grisly and gruesome suggest additionally the results of extreme violence or cruelty.

an unusually grisly murder

suffered a gruesome death

How do lurid and gruesome relate to one another, in the sense of macabre?

Lurid adds to gruesome the suggestion of shuddering fascination with violent death and especially with murder.

the lurid details of a crime

Examples Sentences

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Recent Examples of macabre Nor, for that matter, does Squid Game have much new to say on the subject of income inequality, which is the whole point of this macabre story. —

Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 26 Dec. 2024 During the 10-course meal, vengeful, egomaniacal chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) terrorizes his elite guests with a series of ever-more macabre—and ultimately murderous—theatrics. —

Lauren Sanchez, Vogue, 19 Dec. 2024 Seeing that Orlok sleeps in a coffin (among other macabre weirdnesses), Thomas, already bitten, escapes and heads home—but not before Orlok has loaded his coffin onto a ship and set out for Wisburg himself. —

Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 23 Dec. 2024 Fans of all things macabre are eagerly awaiting the release of filmmaker Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu on Christmas Day, and the film’s promotional cycle is currently reaching a fever pitch. —

Jocelyn Silver, Architectural Digest, 13 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for macabre

Recent Examples of Synonyms for macabre

Adjective

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