Aghast Meaning
/əˈɡæst/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjTerrified; struck with amazement; showing signs of terror or horror.
Sentence Examples
Her mother was aghast.
Tom's mother was aghast.
Grim horror seized me, and aghast I stood.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The parents were ____ when they saw their toddler playing with a sharp knife on the floor.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She was ____ at the sight of the complete mess in her kitchen.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Betraide by fortune and ſuſpitious loue,
Threatned with frowning wrath and iealouſie,
Surpriz’d with feare and hideous reuenge,
I ſtand agaſt: […]"
— c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:
"And while the revellers stood aghast at the fury of the man, one more wicked or, it may be, more drunken than the rest, cried out that they should put the hounds upon her."
— 1902, Arthur Conan Doyle., The Hound of the Baskervilles:
"We sat at a long table with a huge salmon on a platter in the center, prepared Szechuan style. Dad sat at one end of the table, and regaled all present with his stories. In the middle of one convoluted yarn, he rose and went around to the salmon in the center of the table. Using his fingers, he dug an eyeball out of the fish, popped it in his mouth and swallowed it whole as we looked on, aghast. “A real delicacy,” he said, with a boyish smirk."
— 2003, Brian Herbert, “Xanadu”, in Dreamer of Dune, New York: Tom Doherty Associates, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 259:
"Hart, for one, will not remember the night for Lambert's heroics. Morrison, not closed down quickly enough, struck his shot well but England's No1 will be aghast at the way it struck his gloves then skidded off his knees and into the net."
— 2013 August 14, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian:
"For months, Democrats have watched aghast as President Donald Trump has unleashed his head-spinning, all-of-government brand of disruption."
— 2025 April 7, Simon Montlake, Caitlin Babcock, Ali Martin, Cameron Pugh, Jingnan Peng, “Is the anti-Trump ‘resistance’ starting to find its voice again?”, in The Christian Science Monitor:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The parents were ____ when they saw their toddler playing with a sharp knife on the floor.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She was ____ at the sight of the complete mess in her kitchen.