aghast

CEFRC2

/əˈɡæst/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Very shocked or frightened by something unexpected.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Terrified; struck with amazement; showing signs of terror or horror.

Examples

  • Grim horror seized me, and aghast I stood.

  • 1985, Les Misérables, the song "Red and Black" I am agog! I am aghast! Is Marius in love at last?

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
2
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5

Also pronounced

  • /əˈɡast/

Deep Dive

More examples

In context

  • I was aghast when the incident unfolded in front of me.

  • Her mother was aghast.

  • Tom's mother was aghast.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The parents were blank when they saw their toddler playing with a sharp knife on the floor.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English agast, agasted, past participle of agasten (“to terrify”), from Old English a- (compare with Gothic 𐌿𐍃- (us-), German er-, originally meaning "out") + gæstan (“to terrify, torment”): compare Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (usgaisjan, “to terrify”, literally “to fix, to root to the spot with terror”); akin to Latin haerere (“to stick fast, cling”). By surface analysis, a- + ghast/gast. See gaze.