horror
Americannoun
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horrors
plural
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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.
- Synonyms:
- consternation, dismay, dread
- Antonyms:
- serenity
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anything that causes such a feeling.
killing, looting, and other horrors of war.
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such a feeling as a quality or condition.
to have known the horror of slow starvation.
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a strong aversion; abhorrence.
to have a horror of emotional outbursts.
- Synonyms:
- abomination, hatred, detestation, antipathy, loathing
- Antonyms:
- attraction
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Informal. something considered bad or tasteless.
That wallpaper is a horror. The party was a horror.
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Informal. horrors,
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extreme depression.
adjective
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inspiring or creating horror, loathing, aversion, etc..
The hostages told horror stories of their year in captivity.
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centered upon or depicting terrifying or macabre events.
a horror movie.
interjection
noun
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extreme fear; terror; dread
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intense loathing; hatred
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(often plural) a thing or person causing fear, loathing, etc
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(modifier) having a frightening subject, esp a supernatural one
a horror film
Synonym Usage
See terror.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of horror
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin horror, equivalent to horr- (stem of horrēre “to bristle with fear”; see horrendous) + -or -or 1; replacing Middle English orrour, from Anglo-French, from Latin horrōr-, stem of horror
Explanation
The noun horror means intense fear, so you can use it when you describe the horror you felt when you dreamed you were flying on a bumpy airplane with a bunch of clowns. Horror is a powerful word that refers to a powerful feeling, either of terror, disgust, or shock. You might reel back from the horror of a smelly locker room, or gasp in horror at a gory scene in a movie. Horror can also be used to describe the genre of film that might make you gasp: a horror movie. The Latin word horror means "bristling, roughness, rudeness, shaking, or trembling."
Vocabulary lists containing horror
The Grim Reader: Wicked Words of Grave Importance for Halloween
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Words inspired by "Inside Out"
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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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’s a very dark comedy that turns to a horror film at the end,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
The box-office failure of “Digger” over the weekend shows how hard it remains for movie studios to pack theaters with original films in genres other than horror, Ben Fritz notes for the Journal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
But the horror of the task, even with his experience, finally made him crack.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
She said waking up to the news Pike had survived the injections was "like watching a horror movie".
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
A prickle of horror ran down the back of his neck and into his arms and legs.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
Indeed, I had blocked out most memories of that 2004 Fox reality train wreck until Carr’s documentary reached into my mind’s cobwebby attic and retrieved its cabinet of horrors.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2026
I had grim conversations with many people about the horrors they’d seen after their loved ones fell into the world of medbeds.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
To secretly persuade his young students to put on a musical about the horrors of 9/11 and its aftermath that’s certain to cause controversy and get the principal in trouble.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
"We see some horrors," he says, adding that current checks on new homes before handover are insufficient.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Not to mention whatever untold horrors lay in wait deeper in the city tonight.
From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older
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.
