horror

[ hawr-er, hor- ]

noun

1. 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

2. anything that causes such a feeling:

   killing, looting, and other horrors of war.

3. such a feeling as a quality or condition:

   to have known the horror of slow starvation.

4. a strong aversion; abhorrence:

   to have a horror of emotional outbursts.

   Synonyms: abomination, hatred, detestation, antipathy, loathing

   Antonyms: attraction

5. Informal. something considered bad or tasteless:

   That wallpaper is a horror. The party was a horror.

6. horrors, Informal.
   1. delirium tremens.
   2. extreme depression.

adjective

1. inspiring or creating horror, loathing, aversion, etc.:

   The hostages told horror stories of their year in captivity.

2. centered upon or depicting terrifying or macabre events:

   a horror movie.

interjection

1. horrors, (used as a mild expression of dismay, surprise, disappointment, etc.)

horror

/ ˈhɒrə /

noun

1. extreme fear; terror; dread
2. intense loathing; hatred
3. often plural a thing or person causing fear, loathing, etc
4. modifier having a frightening subject, esp a supernatural one

   a horror film

Word History and Origins

Origin of horror¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of horror¹

C14: from Latin: a trembling with fear; compare hirsute

Idioms and Phrases

see under throw up one's hands .

Synonym Study

See terror.

Example Sentences

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost play ghost hunters in the new Amazon Prime horror comedy Truth Seekers.

From Ars Technica

Liz Howard, an attorney with the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice who worked as a senior election official in Virginia, has her own horror story to tell.

From Fortune

Tasha Zemke, copy editor I’m loving HBO’s horror series Lovecraft Country.

From Outside Online

In late October, you’ll get back-to-back tastes of horror-focused streamers Screambox and Shudder.

From Fortune

If you’re like most people, you probably thought you nailed it on the first take only to listen in horror as you “umm” and “ahh” your way to the end.

From Search Engine Watch

In the end, the clarity that comes from moments of horror can help us recommit to deeper principles.

From The Daily Beast

“Internationally there has been a lot of horror and contempt for her actions, domestically very little,” he said.

From The Daily Beast

All of us can readily conjure up horror scenarios by the isolated person acting badly.

From The Daily Beast

Sabrine says that despite the private horror of what she was going through, she was too ashamed to tell her family.

From The Daily Beast

But Kent will not let us off the familiar horror hook so easily.

From The Daily Beast

The king was struck with horror at the description I had given him of those terrible engines, and the proposal I had made.

From Project Gutenberg

But all you can think of are the horror stories about the worn out genes of Earth.

From Project Gutenberg

With horror she had heard her brother addressed by a disreputable costermonger in a mangy fur cap, as "Old pal."

From Project Gutenberg

And then she thought with horror of the confidence she had made to old Mrs. Wurzel and the brewer's daughter, not an hour before.

From Project Gutenberg

She craned forward, the smile gone from her lips, a horror in her eyes, her bosom heaving.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• apprehension
• awe
• consternation
• disgust
• dismay
• dread
• fear
• fright
• hatred
• panic
• revulsion
• terror