Grisliest

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Marked by the most extreme level of horror or gruesomeness that elicits a strong emotional reaction
2. Causing intense fear or disgust due to its shocking or violent nature
3. Characterized by the utmost severity in unpleasant or frightful details

Etymology: "Grisliest" is the superlative of "grisly", which came into English from Old English "grisliċ", meaning horrible or dreadful. That Old English adjective was built from the verb "grīsan", meaning to shudder with horror or tremble with terror, plus the suffix "-lic", which forms adjectives meaning characteristic of or pertaining to. The verb itself survives in the older English "agrise", to frighten or make one shudder, so the adjective literally described something that made you shake. The word's roots reach beyond English. Related forms appear across Germanic languages: Danish "grusom", Swedish "gräslig", Dutch "griezelig" and German "grässlich" all carry the same shuddering sense. Some scholars also suggest it may be a shortened form of an older Old English past participle, "ongrislic", which would tie it even more directly to the experience of being made to shudder.

Synonyms: most gruesome, most horrific

Antonyms: harmless, pleasant