Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Struck by shock, terror, or amazement.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Struck with amazement; filled with sudden fright or horror. See
agast , v. t. - Synonyms Horrified, dismayed, confounded, astounded, dumfounded, thunderstruck.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb obsolete See
agast , v. t. - adjective Terrified; struck with amazement; showing signs of terror or horror.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Terrified ; struck withamazement ; showing signs of terror orhorror .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective struck with fear, dread, or consternation
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The slim night elf sat atop his cat, his expression aghast.
THE SUNDERING RICHARD A. KNAAK 2005
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What should have everyone aghast is that this man fantasizes himself as Presidential material.
Fueling speculation, Dobbs appears to soften on key issue 2009
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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.
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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
Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Northern Slave, Emancipated from Bodily Servitude by the State of New York, in 1828 Olive Truth Gilbert 1850
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"And did the cart go for it?" inquired Captain Bunting, aghast.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Marr said many people on the left would be "aghast" to hear him criticise FoI.
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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."
qroqqa commented on the word aghast
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.
June 2, 2009
rolig commented on the word aghast
So, then, this word must be related to ghastly. But probably not to ghost, I would guess. Verrry interrresting.
June 2, 2009
hernesheir commented on the word aghast
Railroad telegraphers' shorthand for "Will advise you promptly of any change". --US Railway Assn. Standard Cipher Code, 1906.
January 19, 2013
nirane commented on the word aghast
Lovely
June 19, 2013