horrify
Americanverb
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to cause feelings of horror in; terrify; frighten
-
to dismay or shock greatly
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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horrifysimple
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horrifiessimple
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have horrifiedperfect
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has horrifiedperfect
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am horrifyingprogressive
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are horrifyingprogressive
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is horrifyingprogressive
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have been horrifyingperfect progressive
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has been horrifyingperfect progressive
Past
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horrifiedsimple
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had horrifiedperfect
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was horrifyingprogressive
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were horrifyingprogressive
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had been horrifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of horrify
1785–95; < Latin horrificāre to cause horror, equivalent to horri- (combining form of horrēre to bristle with fear; see horrendous) + -ficāre -fy
Explanation
To horrify is to cause someone to feel shocked and disturbed. It may horrify your parents if you announce that you're dropping out of school to become a professional clown. Things that horrify you fill you with terror, shock, or disgust. It would horrify you to run into a vampire on a dark city streets, and it would also horrify you to be served raw hamburger for lunch. The emotion that arises when something horrifies you is horror, a word that's the same in Latin, with the literal meaning "a shaking, a trembling, or a shudder."
Vocabulary lists containing horrify
List 7
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Stuart Little
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Lawn Boy
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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.
See Examples For:
"It is possible to watch and enjoy it purely for the astonishing footage - but it will horrify you too."
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2023
But just as his irreverent novels dismay some adults, the tadpoles produce comics — all acted out hilariously onstage — that horrify their adoptive father.
From New York Times ● Aug. 3, 2023
That detail didn't horrify some nearly as much as his and Chapel's usage of a serum not yet seen before in "Star Trek."
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2023
The results, shown over five different screens as the AI refines its work, may impress, amuse or horrify.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 30, 2023
These writings may shock or horrify you, but that is not my intention.
From "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys
What horrifies her is a sense that “the law is something to be inflicted,” and therefore inherently cruel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
"It horrifies me. It should anger us all," Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said.
From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2026
“All those dissidents going into Lefortovo — the name horrifies you,” she said in an interview with ABC’s “Nightline” that aired early on Wednesday.
From New York Times ● Jul. 12, 2023
“In 100 years are we going to have to teach our children what trees are because there aren’t any left? It’s a thought that horrifies me,” said high school sophomore Gabriel Burke.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2023
The thought of spending whatever remains of my life in this stone vault horrifies me.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
People were horrified that a car drove by and took a picture of their house.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
She previously said she was "horrified" when Newham Council put them in the top-floor flat, which needed repairs, and said the authority "could have prevented this tragic thing from happening".
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Milton and Lyman Stewart were religious zealots who were horrified by the encroachment of modernist ideas on society.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026
Vesuvius in AD 79, he wasn’t just horrified, he was mesmerized, even excited; amid all that death it felt like the past was alive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Mal was forbidden to fly anywhere except around the garden or across the fields: her great-aunt Leonor would have been horrified had she known how far Mal went.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Workers who managed to get out described horrifying scenes when the disaster struck.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
She said lyrics about someone's death were "the most horrifying thing" for a member of a family to hear.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
For Vytas and Marija, the news feels momentous, horrifying, even in the immediate wake of their own romantic dissolution.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
And he goes on to, as the question suggests, accept and construct horrifying grifts, right?
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
“The situation therefore, as will be seen, is full of horrifying possibilities,” the Tribune said.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
