ghoulishlyadv.
/ˈɡuːlᵻʃli/, U.S. /ˈɡulᵻʃli/ 1. In a manner typical or characteristic of a ghoul.
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the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > evil spirit or demon > [adverb] > ghoulishly
ghoulishly1844
1844 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 55 550 The difference is nearly as great as between Lady Amine eating rice with a bodkin, and the same fair one battening ghoulishly upon the cold meat in the cemetery.
1891 A. Goddard Players of Period 158 The hero..talked ghoulishly of tearing a body from the grave.
1975 L. P. Kurtz Dance of Death 281 The sinful have before their eyes the inexorable march of time with Death ghoulishly guiding them to their everlasting doom.
2014 Classical Jrnl. 109 444 Cacus, who in Evander's words likewise dwelt in a cave that ghoulishly exhibited his victims' gory remnants.
2. figurative. In a manner characterized by an excessive fascination with death, disaster, misfortune, etc.; in a morbid or macabre manner.
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1875 Photographic News 30 Apr. 216/1 Fancy this bachelor cynic, after witnessing the early tiffs of Mr. and Mrs. Joan Darby.., returning to his den and ghoulishly chuckling at the pleasant artless simpering of this same couple fresh from the embellishing photographers!
1894 Bookman Feb. 150/2 How our interest ghoulishly feeds on past pain!
1971 New Guard Dec. 16/2 We do not ghoulishly sit hoping for the literal deaths of Presidents.
2003 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 23 Aug. r11/1 America seems to be rather ghoulishly prolonging, and even luxuriating in, the grief attendant upon the recent spate of top-table Hollywood demises.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1844