horrible

adjective

hor·​ri·​ble ˈhȯr-ə-bəl 

ˈhär-

1

: marked by or arousing painful and intense fear, dread, dismay, or aversion : marked by or arousing horror

a horrible accident

2

: extremely bad or unpleasant

a horrible mistake

horrible food

horrible noun

horribleness noun

horribly

ˈhȯr-ə-blē 

ˈhär-

adverb

Synonyms

• appalling
• atrocious
• awful
• dreadful
• frightful
• ghastly
• grisly
• gruesome
• grewsome
• hideous
• horrendous
• horrid
• horrific
• horrifying
• lurid
• macabre
• monstrous
• nightmare
• nightmarish
• shocking
• terrible
• terrific

Examples of horrible in a Sentence

He suffered a horrible death.

The crime scene was too horrible to describe.

The team had a horrible season last year.

He realized that he had made a horrible mistake.

Recent Examples on the Web

Although there is high demand among students for internships and other work opportunities, our education-employer ecosystem is doing a horrible job delivering them. —Brandon Busteed, Forbes, 14 Dec. 2024

Everyone is forgetting conveniently about October 7, but that was a horrible day for the world, not for Israel, for the world. —Time Staff, TIME, 12 Dec. 2024

Even as the country seeks to emerge from the legacy of those seven horrible years, however, a new government elected in 2023 has become the first since the fall of the dictatorship to justify the regime’s extrajudicial killings and violent repression. —Joshua Hammer, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Dec. 2024

The curious case made headlines around the country — in large part because of her relatives' insistence that something horrible may have happened. —Wendy Grossman Kantor, People.com, 11 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English orible, horrible, borrowed from Anglo-French, borrowed from Latin horribilis, from horrēre "to be stiffly erect, bristle (of hair, weapons, plants), shudder, shiver" + -ibilis "capable of exhibiting or causing (the action of the verb)" — more at horror entry 1, -able

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

horrible

adjective

hor·​ri·​ble ˈhȯr-ə-bəl 

ˈhär-

1

: marked by or arousing horror

2

: extremely unpleasant or bad

horrible food

horribly

-blē 

adverb