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
- horrendously adverb
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
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.
He described as "horrendous" the tunnel conditions under the Seaview football pitch, which is downstream from where Noah was seen naked close to the entrance to a storm drain at Linear Park.
From BBC
The USA's Malinin finished eighth after a horrendous free skate in which he visibly crumbled under the pressure.
From BBC
However, a horrendous first end - during which the Italians stole four points - left them chasing in front of a raucous home crowd armed with horns, bells and whistles.
From BBC
"There are horrendous things that happened to girls and nobody cares and nobody listens," Fleet told reporters outside the meeting room.
From BBC
“The right thing would be opening up a new portal and letting me go home. This land smells absolutely horrendous.”
From Literature
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.
