Link Centre Dictionary

beastly

UK/ˈbiːstli/ US/ˈbiˌstli/ uncommon dated slang uk
adverb (1) adjective (2)

adverb

1.

in a beastly manner

  • “she behaved beastly toward her mother-in-law”

adjective

1.

very unpleasant

  • “hellish weather”
  • “stop that god-awful racket”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility

  • “beastly desires”
  • “a bestial nature”
  • “brute force”
  • “a dull and brutish man”
  • “bestial treatment of prisoners”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

From Middle English bestely, bestly, equivalent to beast + -ly. Compare West Frisian bistachtich (“beastly”), Dutch beestachtig (“beastly”), German biestig (“beastly”).

Phrases

  • beastly careless
  • nature of the beast

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.