English▸ adjective disturbing and horrifying because of involvement with or depiction of death and injury:
a macabre series of murders.
– ORIGIN late 19th century : from French macabre, from Danse Macabre ‘dance of death’, from Old French, perhaps from Macabé ‘a Maccabee’, with reference to a miracle play depicting the slaughter of the Maccabees.