ghoulishEnglishOxford American Thesaurusghoulish adjective 1 the torchlight gave his face a ghoulish appearance: macabre, grisly, gruesome, grotesque, ghastly, morbid. 2 he had a ghoulish hobby of collecting “In Memoriam” notices: unhealthy, perverted, death-obsessed, morbid; horrible, unwholesome, revolting; informal sick.