Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Struck by shock, terror, or amazement.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Struck with amazement; filled with sudden fright or horror. See agast, v. t.
- Synonyms Horrified, dismayed, confounded, astounded, dumfounded, thunderstruck.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. See agast, v. t.
- adj. Terrified; struck with amazement; showing signs of terror or horror.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. struck with fear, dread, or consternation
Etymologies
- Middle English agast, past participle of agasten, to frighten : a-, intensive pref. (from Old English ā-) + gasten, to frighten (from Old English gǣstan, from gāst, ghost).
Examples
“The slim night elf sat atop his cat, his expression aghast.”
“What should have everyone aghast is that this man fantasizes himself as Presidential material.”
“Behold him next assuming the reins of government at a time when every other mind on earth would have shrunk aghast from the fearful task, or sunk beneath its complicated perils.”
“All her unfulfilled promises arose before her, like a vexed sea whose waves run mountains high; and her soul, which seemed but one mass of lies, shrunk back aghast from the 'awful look' of him whom she had formerly talked to, as if he had been”
“And did the cart go for it?" inquired Captain Bunting, aghast.”
“Marr said many people on the left would be "aghast" to hear him criticise FoI.”
The Guardian: Tony Blair's A Journey memoir released – live blog
“This begins immediately for Foxe when Elizabeth is arrested. 168 In Foxe's melodramatic depiction, Queen Mary's commissioners arrived at Elizabeth's residence in the middle of the night, barged their way past the "aghast" servants and told the princess that they had orders to bring her to court "either quick or dead.”
“And everyone has that experience growing up where there's the, you know, the funny uncle who comes over and he tells, like, dirty jokes that you don't understand and your parents look kind of aghast and they're like, oh, go to your room.”
“Although, I do find it hilarious that the folks quoted are so "aghast" at the prospect of voter fraud in Texas.”
Note To News Orgs: McCain And Palin Are Largely Responsible For Unhinged Tone At Their Rallies
“As we go to press, Feminist Majority, Planned Parenthood and NOW have said not a word, although NOW's Kim Gandy told me she was "aghast" and would speak out soon.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘aghast’.
-
Archaic
abide, abjure, abroad, adamant, afield, aforetime, aghast, anon, apace, argent, assuage, aught and 327 more...
-
GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
-
ghost
This is Ghost List 2 ( the kind that go 'boo!' ) :P
phantom, spectral, specter, spectre, spooky, poltergeist, haunt, spirit, banshee, cryptic, shadow, phantasm and 294 more...
-
January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
-
Words the sound like their meaning
love, hate, butterfly, whisper, shout, boil, simmer, glide, kiss, wisp, hum, hammer and 30 more...
-
vocab #3
admonish, aghast, annihilate, benefactor, bestow, devioud, devious, heed, mortal, muse, pioneer, plague and 3 more...
-
Vocab3
admonish, aghast, annihilate, benefactor, bestow, devious, devoid, heed, mortal, muse, pioneer, plague and 3 more...
rolig So, then, this word must be related to ghastly. But probably not to ghost, I would guess. Verrry interrresting. Jun 2, 2009
qroqqa In origin the past participle of an extinct verb agast, extended form of verb gast, both meaning "frighten". The spelling with -h- first appeared in c.1425 (in Scots), well before Caxton famously introduced it in ghost; but it was not until the late 1500s that it became usual for such words. Jun 2, 2009