100 Vocabulary Words for Gothic Fiction | For Writers
Hello Writers! I've put together a list of 100 words to help you expand your vocabulary for writing gothic fiction in October. I categorized the words for easy reference. I did some research using thesauruses and dictionaries to compile this list for you. I hope you find it helpful! 👻🎃
Atmospheric Words
Tenebrous - dark and gloomy
Oppressive - overwhelming and unpleasantly powerful
Ominous - suggesting evil or harm is imminent
Eerie - strange and frightening
Uncanny - mysterious and unsettling
Nefarious - wicked or criminal
Malevolent - having evil intentions
Sinister - giving the impression of evil
Melancholy - deep sadness
Lugubrious - mournful or dismal
Sombre - dark and gloomy
Dreary - dull and depressing
Desolate - empty and lonely
Bleak - cold and depressing
Dank - unpleasantly damp and cold
Character Descriptions
Pallid - abnormally pale
Gaunt - thin and bony
Haggard - looking exhausted and unwell
Cadaverous - corpse-like
Wan - pale and sickly
Spectral - ghost-like
Enigmatic - mysterious and difficult to understand
Brooding - appearing darkly thoughtful
Tortured - suffering mentally or physically
Macabre - disturbing due to focus on death or injury
Architectural Features
Gothic - relating to medieval style architecture
Dilapidated - in a state of disrepair
Decrepit - worn out or ruined due to age
Crumbling - breaking into small fragments
Decaying - rotting or decomposing
Ramshackle - in a state of severe disrepair
Crypt - underground room or vault
Turret - small tower on a building
Parapet - low protective wall along the edge of a roof
Buttress - structure built against a wall for support
Supernatural Elements
Apparition - ghost or spirit
Phantasm - figment of the imagination
Specter - ghost or phantom
Wraith - ghost or spirit
Revenant - person who returns as a spirit after death
Ethereal - extremely delicate and light
Otherworldly - belonging to an imaginary or spiritual world
Paranormal - beyond normal explanation
Preternatural - beyond what is normal in nature
Occult - supernatural or magical
Emotions and States of Mind
Dread - great fear or apprehension
Foreboding - fearful apprehension
Trepidation - fear or anxiety about something that may happen
Anguish - severe mental or physical pain
Despair - complete loss of hope
Melancholia - deep and long-lasting sadness
Hysteria - exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion
Delirium - state of confusion and hallucination
Madness - state of severe mental illness
Obsession - persistent disturbing preoccupation with an idea or feeling
Gothic Settings
Moor - area of open, uncultivated upland
Wasteland - barren or desolate area
Labyrinth - complex maze-like structure
Catacomb - underground cemetery
Dungeon - dark underground prison
Mausoleum - building housing a tomb or tombs
Sepulcher - small room or monument where a dead person is laid
Necropolis - large cemetery, especially an ancient one
Citadel - fortress that commands a city
Monastery - building occupied by a community of monks
Weather and Natural Phenomena
Tempest - violent windy storm
Miasma - unpleasant or unhealthy smell or vapor
Fog - thick cloud of tiny water droplets
Mist - cloud of tiny water droplets in the air near ground level
Gloom - partial or total darkness
Twilight - soft glowing light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon
Umbra - the fully shaded inner region of a shadow
Penumbra - the partially shaded outer region of a shadow
Crepuscular - resembling twilight; dim
Tenebrous - dark, shadowy, or obscure
Literary Devices and Narrative Elements
Foreshadowing - warning or indication of a future event
Omen - event regarded as a portent of good or evil
Portent - sign or warning that a momentous or calamitous event is likely to happen
Harbinger - person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another
Presage - sign or warning that something will happen
Doppelganger - look-alike or double of a living person
Grotesque - comically or repulsively ugly or distorted
Gothic double - character representing the duality of human nature
Unreliable narrator - narrator whose credibility is compromised
Frame narrative - story within a story
Liminal Spaces and Concepts
Threshold - strip of wood or stone forming the bottom of a doorway
Liminal - occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold
Betwixt - in between
Interstitial - of, forming, or occupying interstices (small spaces between things)
Twilight zone - undefined or intermediate area between two distinct states
Purgatory - place or state of temporary suffering or expiation
Netherworld - imaginary subterranean world of the dead
Abyss - deep or seemingly bottomless chasm
Void - completely empty space
Chthonic - concerning, belonging to, or inhabiting the underworld
Miscellaneous Gothic Terms
Sublime - of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire awe
Ineffable - too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words
Eldritch - weird and sinister or ghostly
Atavistic - relating to or characterized by reversion to something ancient or ancestral
Numinous - having a strong religious or spiritual quality; indicating the presence of a divinity
Happy writing, and Happy October! 📜🕯️- Rin T.
