horror

1 of 2

noun

hor·​ror ˈhȯr-ər 

ˈhär-

1

a

: painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay

astonishment giving place to horror on the faces of the people about me

—H. G. Wells

b

: intense aversion or repugnance

2

a

: the quality of inspiring horror : repulsive, horrible, or dismal quality or character

contemplating the horror of their lives

—Liam O'Flaherty

b

: something that inspires horror

3

horrors plural : a state of extreme depression or apprehension

horror

2 of 2

adjective

: calculated to inspire feelings of dread or horror

a horror movie

Synonyms

Noun

• atrociousness
• atrocity
• awfulness
• dreadfulness
• frightfulness
• ghastliness
• grisliness
• gruesomeness
• hideousness
• horridness
• monstrosity
• repulsiveness

Examples of horror in a Sentence

Noun

There was a look of horror on her face.

The crowd watched in horror as the fire spread.

His friends were shocked by the horror of his death.

His crimes were unspeakable horrors.

His memoirs recount the horrors of the war.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

See where 20 Academy Award winners keep their Oscars Also in the hunt after a stellar showing at Cannes is Demi Moore's body horror drama The Substance, which reportedly received a standing ovation that lasted somewhere between 11 and 13 minutes. —EW.com, 30 May 2024

Since then, Williams has become a horror mainstay thanks to Get Out, M3gan and The Perfection. —Esther Kang, Peoplemag, 30 May 2024

Adjective

Suspiria imparted a Baroque palette to the horror genre that made every frame into a painterly tableau resembling the work of Ernst Kirchner or Disney’s Snow White. —Erik Morse, Vogue, 24 Apr. 2024

Additionally, while other movie franchises have begun to lose steam, Warner Bros said The Nun II (the 6th film in The Conjuring universe) crossed $250 million in the global box office, making the series the highest-grossing in the horror genre of all time. —Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 15 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English orrour, horrour, borrowed from Anglo-French horrour, horrur, borrowed from Latin horrōr-, horror "standing stiffly, bristling (of hair), shivering (from cold or fear), dread, consternation," derivative with the abstract noun suffix -ōr- (going back to *-ōs-) from the base of horrēre "to be stiffly erect, bristle (of hair, weapons, plants), shudder, shiver," going back to Indo-European *ǵ^hors-éi̯e-, iterative derivative of a stem *ǵ^hers- "bristle, become stiff," whence also Sanskrit hṛṣyati "(it) stands on end (of hair, from fear or joy), (s/he) rejoices"

Note: According to Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben (2. Auflage, Wiesbaden, 2001) this base has fallen together with another base, *g^(w)hers- "rejoice," in Vedic, and the outcomes are no longer completely distinguishable; the Lexikon attributes to the latter base Vedic hárṣate "rejoices, is excited," ghṛ́ṣuḥ, ghṛ́ṣvih "lively, wanton," as well as Parthian gš- "be cheerful," Sogdian w-γš- "rejoice." Michiel de Vaan (Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages, Brill, 2008) posits a single base and assumes for ghṛ́ṣuḥ, ghṛ́ṣvih loss of palatal quality in zero grade. Earlier etymological dictionaries, as Pokorny, connect with *ǵ^hers- and an unextended form *ǵ^her- a wide variety of nominal forms (cf. gorse, orgeat, hirsute, urchin).

Adjective

from attributive use of horror entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Adjective

1936, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing horror

• have a horror of
• horror of horrors
• horror show
• horror story
• horror-struck
• shock horror
• to someone's horror

Kids Definition

horror

noun

hor·​ror

ˈhȯr-ər,

ˈhär-

1

: strong fear, dread, or dislike

2

: the quality of inspiring horror

3

: something horrible

horror adjective

Medical Definition

horror

noun

hor·​ror ˈhȯr-ər, ˈhär- 

: painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay