horrendous
Americanadjective
adjective
Usage
What does horrendous mean? Horrendous is popularly used to mean extremely bad—awful, dreadful, or horrible. It can also mean literally causing horror—horrifying or horrific, as in horrendous violence. Example: If you’re wondering what cake tastes like when you accidentally use salt instead of sugar, it’s horrendous—completely disgusting and inedible.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of horrendous
1650–60; < Latin horrendus dreadful, to be feared (gerund of horrēre to bristle, shudder), equivalent to horr- (akin to hirsute ) + -endus gerund suffix
Explanation
Bad luck, an injury, a mistake, an unfortunate outfit, or a crime — anything can be called horrendous if it causes such dread or fear that you can barely even think about it. If you’ve ever encountered something horrendous, you won’t be surprised to learn that the word traces back to the Latin word horrere, meaning "to bristle with fear, shudder." That’s a good way to think about horrendous things — they cause you to shudder. You can use the word to describe any type of thing — people, ideas, actions, and so on — but save it for those things that are not merely bad but instead are truly horrifying.
Vocabulary lists containing horrendous
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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.
Welsh said: "These adverts are pumped at you when you've gone through the most horrendous circumstances - it's like walking through the door and someone's put a cot in your front room."
From BBC • Jun. 3, 2026
“He’s sitting on a volcano of emotions that he hasn’t dealt with. He does some pretty horrendous things, but I think people softened up to Morrow because they saw that human side.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2026
Part of what makes Callais so devastating is the way it builds on previous horrendous misinterpretations.
From Slate • May 19, 2026
The deaths of three young women in the sea in Brighton were "tragic and horrendous", the city's council leader has said.
From BBC • May 14, 2026
It had been a horrendous, con-fusing, emotional day.
From "Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel" by Harlan Coben
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.
