horrible

[hawr-uh-buhl, hor-]

adjective

1. causing or tending to cause horror; shockingly dreadful.

   a horrible sight.

   Synonyms: repellent, horrendous, horrid, repulsive, revolting, shocking, ghastly, grim, hideous, frightful, appalling, awful, terrible
   Antonyms: attractive

2. extremely unpleasant; deplorable; disgusting.

   horrible living conditions.

horrible

/ ˈhɒrəbəl /

adjective

1. causing horror; dreadful

2. disagreeable; unpleasant

3. informal,  cruel or unkind

Other Word Forms

• horribleness noun
• horribly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of horrible¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English (h)orrible, from Old French, from Latin horribilis, equivalent to horr(ēre) “to stand on end, bristle with fear” + -ibilis -ible

Word History and Origins

Origin of horrible¹

C14: via Old French from Latin horribilis, from horrēre to tremble

Example Sentences

Another woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "Words can't explain the situation that we're in. It's horrible. I don't even know what to say. So many hopeless, helpless and lifeless people here right now."

Read more on BBC

The German, who logic says should be eaten alive by the horrible rigors of his job at Ibrox, also looks like he's revelling in the gig.

Read more on BBC

“Which seems like a horrible f— way to live.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The report said as well as being horrible, long waits were risky.

Read more on BBC

That’s horrible; reality shows have long been a criticized about whether or not they do enough to protect participants from threats on social media, but I hope they are taking some security measures.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• abhorrent 
• abominable 
• appalling 
• awful 
• cruel 
• disgusting 
• dreadful 
• eerie 
• frightful 
• ghastly 
• grim 
• grisly 
• gruesome 
• heinous 
• hideous 
• horrendous 
• horrid 
• lousy 
• nasty 
• scandalous 

When To Use

What does horrible mean?

Horrible is popularly used to mean extremely bad—awful, dreadful, or horrendous.When it’s used to describe a person, it often means extremely disagreeable or cruel.Much less commonly, it can mean literally causing horror—horrifying or horrific.Example: Everyone seems to like that restaurant, but I had a horrible experience there—bad food and even worse service.