horrifying
Britishadjective
-
causing feelings of horror in; awful; terrifying;
-
dismaying or greatly shocking; dreadful
Other Word Forms
Explanation
Horrifying things are scary and disturbing. A car crash, a violent scene in a movie, and an exposé on what's really in your fast food hamburger can all be described as horrifying. Something that scares you to death, like the sound of footsteps upstairs in your dark, empty house or the sight of a bear on the hiking trail, is horrifying. Equally horrifying are things that sicken you, like photographs from a battlefield or the description of a painful dental procedure. Horrifying things inspire horror, originally a Latin word meaning both "dread" and "religious awe," from horrere, "to bristle with fear."
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.
Amy Madigan won best supporting actress at the Oscars for her performance as the hilarious, horrifying witch Gladys.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Cleveland's Chief Constable Victoria Fuller said what we'd heard was "horrifying".
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Workers who managed to get out described horrifying scenes when the disaster struck.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
And he goes on to, as the question suggests, accept and construct horrifying grifts, right?
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
But they’d hardly been in Taman for a month before they suffered another horrifying loss.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
