horror story

noun

: an account of an unsettling or unfortunate occurrence

heard horror stories about recent layoffs

also : something unsettling or unfortunate

his childhood was a horror story

Examples of horror story in a Sentence

We've all heard horror stories about airlines losing people's luggage.

Her childhood was a horror story.

Recent Examples on the Web

Please weigh in via the poll below, then go to the comments with your thoughts, opinions and wedding-dessert horror stories. —Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 16 May 2025

The movie takes place on a merchant ship bound for London and becomes a survival horror story as the crew starts getting laid to waste by a most surprising passenger hidden within the boxes below deck. —Jordan Crucchiola, Vulture, 26 Apr. 2025

Two women who expected a utility bill horror story have shared the unusual twist when their electricity bill arrived in the mail. —Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Apr. 2025

So far, the video has over 107,000 likes and has resonated with thousands of users—many of whom shared their own horror stories. —Raja Krishnamoorthi, Newsweek, 13 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1937, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for horror story

• allegory
• amatory
• auditory
• category
• clerestory
• crematory
• desultory
• dilatory
• dormitory
• excretory
• extempore
• feudatory