horror
Americannoun
-
an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting; a shuddering fear.
to shrink back from a mutilated corpse in horror.
- Synonyms:
- consternation, dismay, dread
- Antonyms:
- serenity
-
anything that causes such a feeling.
killing, looting, and other horrors of war.
-
such a feeling as a quality or condition.
to have known the horror of slow starvation.
-
a strong aversion; abhorrence.
to have a horror of emotional outbursts.
- Synonyms:
- abomination, hatred, detestation, antipathy, loathing
- Antonyms:
- attraction
-
Informal. something considered bad or tasteless.
That wallpaper is a horror. The party was a horror.
-
Informal. horrors,
-
extreme depression.
adjective
-
inspiring or creating horror, loathing, aversion, etc..
The hostages told horror stories of their year in captivity.
-
centered upon or depicting terrifying or macabre events.
a horror movie.
interjection
noun
-
extreme fear; terror; dread
-
intense loathing; hatred
-
(often plural) a thing or person causing fear, loathing, etc
-
(modifier) having a frightening subject, esp a supernatural one
a horror film
Related Words
See terror.
Etymology
Origin of horror
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin horror, equivalent to horr- (stem of horrēre “to bristle with fear”; horrendous ) + -or -or 1; replacing Middle English orrour, from Anglo-French, from Latin horrōr-, stem of horror
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To Richard’s horror, it has, for want of income, become a dinner theater, hosting touring productions of “Nunsense” and “Forever Plaid” instead of the great stage works on which he cut his teeth.
From Los Angeles Times
Across the Union and the Confederacy, soldiers went from the horrors of war to the suffering of captivity.
Thirty years ago, a game named Resident Evil ushered in the survival horror genre - a blend of nerve-shredding tension, elaborate puzzles, and intricate inventory management.
From BBC
Both of her brothers — one a film director, the other a journalist — moved to Ukraine and have borne witness to the war, which has given her “another level of experiencing this horror,” she says.
From Los Angeles Times
“All we need are some horror stories” about misdiagnoses or dangerous advice, “and that whole area is tarred.”
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
