horrific
[haw-rif-ik, ho-]
- causing horror.
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Origin of horrific
1645–55; < Latin horrificus, equivalent to horri- (combining form of horrēre to bristle with fear) + -ficus -fic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
dreadfulhorrideeriedisgustinghair-raisingappallingheinouscruelgrislyghastlyawfulgruesomeabominablehideousfrightfulgrimabhorrentbeastlybloodcurdlingdetestableExamples from the Web for horrific
Contemporary Examples
In its presence--jolting, sudden, horrific—the monster is the monster of grief.
We love to laugh at Kim and Company because it distracts our souls from the horrific reality of their hermetic regime.
One of the most horrific episodes of the Vietnam War is being made into a government-funded opera.
I always saw the horrific side of this seemingly benign environment.
Tim Burton Talks ‘Big Eyes,’ His Taste For the Macabre, and the ‘Beetlejuice’ SequelMarlow Stern
December 17, 2014
The refugee stories are compelling at first, but horrific details are numbing.
Historical Examples
With horrific pants he emitted smokiest smoke and fiercest fire.
The Golden AgeKenneth Grahame
The picture is a tragic one, cumulative in its horrific details.
The Merry-Go-RoundCarl Van Vechten
She merely sensed that it was red carnage, titanic, horrific.
Good ReferencesE. J. Rath
What happened after that is more obscure and fraught with horrific suggestion.
The Fantasy Fan December 1933Charles D. Hornig
The most fantastic and horrific of nightmares was actually materialised.
Tropic DaysE. J. Banfield
horrific
- provoking horror; horrible
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for horrific
adj.
"causing horror," 1650s, from French horrifique or directly from Latin horrificus "dreadful, exciting terror," literally "making the hair stand on end," from horrere "to bristle, to stand on end" (see horror) + -ficus, from stem of facere "to make, do" (see factitious). Related: Horrifically.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper