horror

[hawr-er, hor-]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR horror ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting; a shuddering fear: to shrink back from a mutilated corpse in horror.

anything that causes such a feeling: killing, looting, and other horrors of war.

such a feeling as a quality or condition: to have known the horror of slow starvation.

a strong aversion; abhorrence: to have a horror of emotional outbursts.

Informal. something considered bad or tasteless: That wallpaper is a horror. The party was a horror.

horrors, Informal.

delirium tremens.
extreme depression.

adjective

inspiring or creating horror, loathing, aversion, etc.: The hostages told horror stories of their year in captivity.

centered upon or depicting terrifying or macabre events: a horror movie.

interjection

horrors, (used as a mild expression of dismay, surprise, disappointment, etc.)

Origin of horror

1520–30; < Latin horror, equivalent to horr- (stem of horrēre to bristle with fear; see horrendous) + -or -or¹; replacing Middle English orrour < Anglo-French < Latin horrōr-, stem of horror

Synonyms for horror

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR horror ON THESAURUS.COM

1. dread, dismay, consternation. See terror. 4. loathing, antipathy, detestation, hatred, abomination.

Antonyms for horror

1. serenity. 4. attraction.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for horror

dismay, consternation, fright, apprehension, dread, disgust, terror, awe, panic, hatred, abhorrence, repugnance, hate, alarm, antipathy, abomination, trepidation, aversion, detestation, monstrosity

Examples from the Web for horror

Contemporary Examples of horror

In the end, the clarity that comes from moments of horror can help us recommit to deeper principles.
Why We Stand With Charlie Hebdo—And You Should Too
John Avlon
January 8, 2015
“Internationally there has been a lot of horror and contempt for her actions, domestically very little,” he said.
Sisi Is Persecuting, Prosecuting, and Publicly Shaming Egypt’s Gays
Bel Trew
December 30, 2014
The grief in this house is extreme of course; this is a horror movie, after all.
Grief: The Real Monster in The Babadook
Tim Teeman
December 19, 2014
Of course, you can read this just as a brilliant, subversive coda to a horror movie.
Grief: The Real Monster in The Babadook
Tim Teeman
December 19, 2014
Like many other Pakistani Taliban, Jamal has his own horror stories to tell, which he believes can justify any bloody retribution.
Pakistani School Killers Want to Strike the U.S.
Sami Yousafzai, Christopher Dickey
December 17, 2014

Historical Examples of horror

Then came smoke, the smell of scorching linen, and a cry of horror from Celine.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
There must be women there, and women meant screams, horror, betrayal.
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand
So I said I didn't love her to save her from the knowledge of this horror.
Viviette
William J. Locke
Her friends advised her to leave it, but she had a horror of removal, of change.
Life and Death of Harriett Frean
May Sinclair
Andrew, thrilling with horror, recognized one as a sawed-off shotgun.
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand

British Dictionary definitions for horror

horror

noun

extreme fear; terror; dread

intense loathing; hatred

(often plural) a thing or person causing fear, loathing, etc

(modifier) having a frightening subject, esp a supernatural onea horror film

Word Origin for horror

C14: from Latin: a trembling with fear; compare hirsute

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 horror

early 14c., from Old French horror (12c., Modern French horreur) and directly from Latin horror "dread, veneration, religious awe," a figurative use, literally "a shaking, trembling, shudder, chill," from horrere "to bristle with fear, shudder," from PIE root *ghers- "to bristle" (cf. Sanskrit harsate "bristles," Avestan zarshayamna- "ruffling one's feathers," Latin eris (genitive) "hedgehog," Welsh garw "rough"). As a genre in film, 1934. Chamber of horrors originally (1849) was a gallery of notorious criminals in Madame Tussaud's wax exhibition.

Idioms and Phrases with horror

horror

see under throw up one's hands.