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

The show is structured as a horror story anthology for adult puppetry fans, featuring an array of gothic costumes, different puppetry styles and lots of music played by a band of Dreadfuls risen out of the graveyard. — Benjamin Carr, AJC.com, 10 Oct. 2026

Controversy & Competition Impact The River Demon, directed by Tran Trong Dan, pushes Mockingbird’s slate into darker territory with an intense supernatural horror story rooted in Vietnamese folk beliefs. — Liz Shackleton, Deadline, 8 Oct. 2026

That fear is warranted, unfortunately, as more and more horror stories of intruders are coming to light. — Amelia McBride, Travel + Leisure, 20 Sep. 2026

Theodora The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson is widely regarded as one of the greatest gothic horror stories of all time. — Anna Earl, Parents, 5 Sep. 2026

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
• feudatory
• gustatory