horror

[hawr-er, hor-]

noun

1. 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

2. anything that causes such a feeling.

   killing, looting, and other horrors of war.

3. such a feeling as a quality or condition.

   to have known the horror of slow starvation.

4. a strong aversion; abhorrence.

   to have a horror of emotional outbursts.

   Synonyms: abomination, hatred, detestation, antipathy, loathing
   Antonyms: attraction

5. Informal.,  something considered bad or tasteless.

   That wallpaper is a horror. The party was a horror.

6. Informal.,  horrors,

   1. delirium tremens.

   2. extreme depression.

adjective

1. inspiring or creating horror, loathing, aversion, etc..

   The hostages told horror stories of their year in captivity.

2. centered upon or depicting terrifying or macabre events.

   a horror movie.

interjection

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

horror

/ ˈhɒrə /

noun

1. extreme fear; terror; dread

2. intense loathing; hatred

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

4. (modifier) having a frightening subject, esp a supernatural one

   a horror film

Word History and Origins

Origin of horror¹

First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin horror, equivalent to horr- (stem of horrēre “to bristle with fear”; horrendous ) + -or -or ¹; replacing Middle English orrour, from Anglo-French, from Latin horrōr-, stem of horror

Word History and Origins

Origin of horror¹

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

Idioms and Phrases

see under throw up one's hands.

Synonym Study

See terror.

Example Sentences

Here, he discusses the afterlife of “Shameless,” the importance of honesty and the role he wants to play in a horror film.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

All three have released films in an assortment of genres, but outside of profitable horror films, it’s the prestige Oscar players that have put them on the map.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

A position of strength in the first Ashes Test wasted by a horror collapse, resulting in an Australian comeback and an awful two-day defeat.

Read more on BBC

Heaney grieves the violence, memorializing its complexity and horror in a poem that can stand with Yeats and Auden.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The film cast Crawford and her fellow diva Bette Davis as elderly sisters in a Grand Guignol horror hit.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• apprehension 
• awe 
• consternation 
• disgust 
• dismay 
• dread 
• fear 
• fright 
• hatred 
• panic 
• revulsion 
• terror