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:
He produced David Lynch’s 1980 drama “The Elephant Man,” while Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 horror classic “Psycho” inevitably calls to mind Brooks’ 1977 Hitchcock spoof “High Anxiety.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
When he sat down to write "Insidious: Out of the Further," the sixth installement of the blockbuster horror franchise, director Jacob Chase channeled his fears over a major life event: becoming a parent.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Panettiere's career spanned three decades with a string of roles in other hit TV shows and films, including the Scream horror film franchise and romantic comedy Raising Helen.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
And yet there was still a sense that Hollywood underserved her canny ability to appear both ferocious and vulnerable, whether as a horror heroine in “Scream 4” or a superpowered cheerleader on “Heroes.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Madame Babushkinov cried in horror as the spilled beets tumbled in a river of red across the road.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Most documentaries urge you to not turn away from the horrors they chronicle, but few make that request as explicitly as “American Doctor.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
It’s a drama not of simple steps but of people staggering through life, in its horrors and its everyday unhappiness, looking for a place to land.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Rahela Begum survived the horrors of war in Myanmar and life in the world's largest refugee camp in Bangladesh -- only to end up drifting at sea, clinging to a wooden plank.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
They transformed the unimaginable horrors that began with their theft from their homeland into constitutional principles expansive enough to protect people they would never know and generations they would never live to see.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026
The kind of moment when all the horrors converge, and all you can do is stand there.
From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz
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.
