horror
Americannoun
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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
-
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.
- Synonyms:
- abomination, hatred, detestation, antipathy, loathing
- Antonyms:
- attraction
-
Informal. something considered bad or tasteless.
That wallpaper is a horror. The party was a horror.
-
Informal. horrors,
-
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
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 one
a horror film
Related Words
See terror.
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.
As much as they respected his playing résumé, Canadiens fans looked at the St. Louis hire with the horror of watching someone put ketchup on their poutine.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
American actor, Matarazzo, 23, became a global star after his portrayal of Dustin Henderson in the Netflix sci-fi horror series, Stranger Things.
From BBC • May 19, 2026
Debuting in third place was horror flick "Obsession" from Focus Features, which earned $16.1 million.
From Barron's • May 17, 2026
“Combining horror and beauty is what spiders do supremely well,” the author writes.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
He and his mom had once watched a horror movie about a killer doll that looked just like this.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
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.
