horror
Americannoun
-
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
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:
An ex-employee described Robert Bush's funeral parlour as a "horror scene", prosecutor Chris Paxton said at the start of a five-day sentencing hearing.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
This is one reason the Backrooms feel different from traditional horror films or ghost stories.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
They also organise specialised events dedicated to the likes of professional wrestling, horror and anime, featuring celebrity guests from across the world.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
One woman, Amanda, unexpectedly bowls him over, and as lust is replaced by love the pair become engaged—much to the horror of her wealthy English parents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
But all words had abandoned me, and the only thing to escape my throat was a tiny squeak of horror.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
Tossing her blond locks like a hair-metal vixen, she’s a needy, greedy, selfie-taking try-hard who — horrors — frets over her own mass appeal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 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
Mr. Dillon’s tone of clinical detachment—from the horrors of the Mao years, for example—can be disconcerting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 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
But it didn't make their work any easier, and it didn’t make the horrors of war any easier to accept.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
