Goriest

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having the highest amount of blood, violence, and carnage visible in appearance or content
2. Marked by extreme scenes of bloody violence more than any other example
3. Displaying the maximum intensity of brutal and bloody imagery possible

Etymology: "Goriest" is the superlative of "gory", so its story is really the story of the root word. Gory traces back to Old English "gor", meaning dirt or dung, a sense that survives in the related Old English "gyr" and "gyru", meaning filthy or muddy. The meaning shifted from simple grime toward the blood that clots on a wound, and that sense is what gives the adjective its modern edge. Along the way, Middle English produced "gorry", meaning muddy, and forms such as "güre" and "girre", used for gory or clotted things. The word's oldest core is therefore about mess and filth rather than violence, which only came to dominate once blood became its chief association.

Synonyms: bloodiest, most gruesome, most macabre, most horrific, most shocking

Antonyms: least gory, most benign, most peaceful, most soothing, most gentle