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

Daniel, a solar-panel installer in his 20s from up island, told a horror story about dislocating his shoulder on the roof of a Hamptons mansion like the ones on the street. —Stephanie Krikorian, Curbed, 23 June 2025

By contrast, the skeletal Scherzinger transformed Sunset Blvd.’s movieland horror story into a film noir Hollywood Babylon. —Armond White, National Review, 13 June 2025

We’re bombarded with too many horror stories of irreversible hair loss and too few success stories of hair recovery. —Zahra Spencer, Allure, 24 June 2025

Creators shared videos about pregnancy horror stories, infidelity and threats of domestic violence, opening up a conversation about how young people use humor as a coping mechanism to talk about traumatic events. —Rachel Hale, USA Today, 19 June 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