hideous
Americanadjective
-
horrible or frightful to the senses; repulsive; very ugly.
a hideous monster.
- Antonyms:
- attractive, pleasing
-
shocking or revolting to the moral sense.
a hideous crime.
-
distressing; appalling.
the hideous expense of moving one's home to another city.
adjective
-
extremely ugly; repulsive
a hideous person
-
terrifying and horrific
Other Word Forms
- hideosity noun
- hideously adverb
- hideousness noun
- unhideous adjective
- unhideously adverb
- unhideousness noun
Etymology
Origin of hideous
1275–1325; Middle English hidous < Old French hisdos, equivalent to hisde horror, fright (perhaps < Old High German *egisida, akin to egisôn, agison to frighten) + -os -ous; suffix later assimilated to -eous
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.
He walked seven batters every nine innings, which is hideous.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 3, 2026
Cowan added: "If you've got those egregious videos, where someone's putting out a hideous deepfake, they're not going to worry about adding that label."
From BBC • Mar. 2, 2026
With such a hideous start to the campaign, getting back in the hunt must feel like the second chance they thought they'd never have.
From BBC • Feb. 28, 2026
She imagined herself forced to wrestle a huge and hideous Egyptian in the arena.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025
And I myself preferred not to see him in strong sunshine, for his pale, membranic skin was no barrier to the light, which pierced deep into the flesh and illumined it to a hideous translucency.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
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.
