horrify

[hawr-uh-fahy, hor-]

verb (used with object)

horrified, horrifying 

1. to cause to feel horror; strike with horror.

   The accident horrified us all.

2. to distress greatly; shock or dismay.

   She was horrified by the price of the house.

horrify

/ ˈhɒrɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. to cause feelings of horror in; terrify; frighten

2. to dismay or shock greatly

Other Word Forms

• horrification noun
• horrifyingly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of horrify¹

1785–95; < Latin horrificāre to cause horror, equivalent to horri- (combining form of horrēre to bristle with fear; horrendous ) + -ficāre -fy

Example Sentences

Mr. Ambar does not spare us the horrifying details of each brutal mob act: As Lincoln described one scene, “dead men were seen literally dangling from the boughs of trees” like “Spanish moss.”

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The British learned this lesson with appeasement before World War II, and Israel relearned it at a horrifying cost on Oct.

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Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt said he was "shocked and horrified" by the actions of the crowd.

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Summing up the case at the sentencing on Friday, the judge Mr Justice Griffiths said it was a "horrifying escalation of cruelty".

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And of all the destabilizing events in a pet’s life, it is having their owner disappear – due to a divorce, illness, natural disaster or other more horrifying fate.

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Related Words

• alarm 
• daunt 
• disgust 
• dismay 
• frighten 
• intimidate 
• outrage 
• petrify 
• shake 
• shock 
• sicken 
• terrify