horrid
[hawr-id, hor-]
- such as to cause horror; shockingly dreadful; abominable.
- extremely unpleasant or disagreeable: horrid weather; She thought her uncle was horrid.
- Archaic. shaggy or bristling; rough.
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Origin of horrid
1580–90; < Latin horridus bristling, rough, equivalent to horr- (stem of horrēre to stand on end, bristle) + -idus -id4
Synonyms
See more synonyms for horrid on Thesaurus.com2. nasty, vile, odious, abominable.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for horrid
Contemporary Examples
Removing choice is bullying and seems a horrid basis on which to anchor your relationship.
This world is a horrid cancer that no decent soul should ever partake from.
And bringing this home for all was the horrid beheading of American journalist James Foley.
The state likely will lead in the countervailing lawsuits when (insert a horrid disease here) is found to be linked to e-puffing.
Revisit that horrid 1997 Psycho redo, or the misguided ABC miniseries version of The Shining that came out the same year.
‘Rosemary’s Baby’: How NBC Gave Birth to a New Version of Roman Polanski’s Horror ClassicKevin Fallon
May 9, 2014
Historical Examples
I say, Mart, what is the use in being so horrid cross all the time?
Ester Ried Yet SpeakingIsabella Alden
You should have told me all about this horrid thing in the first place.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
The smell of burning flesh was in the air, and horrid shrieks.
A Woman TenderfootGrace Gallatin Seton-Thompson
I hate to do it; for I shall have to show my ankles in these horrid trowsers.
I took the whip from our young driver and lashed the horrid animals as hard as I could.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
horrid
- disagreeable; unpleasanta horrid meal
- repulsive or frightening
- informal unkind
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Word Origin
C16 (in the sense: bristling, shaggy): from Latin horridus prickly, rough, from horrēre to bristle
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for horrid
adj.
early 15c., "hairy, shaggy, bristling," from Latin horridus "bristly, prickly, rough, horrid, frightful," from horrere "to bristle with fear, shudder" (see horror). Meaning "horrible, causing horror" is from c.1600. Sense weakened 17c. to "unpleasant, offensive."
[W]hile both [horrible and horrid] are much used in the trivial sense of disagreeable, horrible is still quite common in the graver sense inspiring horror, which horrid tends to lose .... [Fowler]
Related: Horridly.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper