horrible

adjective

hor·ri·ble ˈhȯr-ə-bəl

ˈhär-

Synonyms of horrible next

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

a horrible accident

: extremely bad or unpleasant

a horrible mistake

horrible food

horrible noun

horribleness noun

horribly

ˈhȯr-ə-blē

ˈhär-

adverb

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 The situation in Gaza right now is just horrible in every way possible. —

Carson Terbush, Washington Post, 17 Nov. 2023 That makes a difference, even on the scale of morality where both things may be horrible. —

Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2023 This is why there are so many unfathomably horrible images and videos circulating on social media. —

Nicole Froio, refinery29.com, 12 Nov. 2023 There are people who do horrible things and people who do great things. —

Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone, 25 Oct. 2023 Last season, injuries suffered by Stafford, receiver Cooper Kupp and star defensive lineman Aaron Donald were among those that decimated the Rams during their horrible 5-12 season. —

Gary Klein, Los Angeles Times, 3 Nov. 2023 This keeps reminding me of the horrible Hamas attacks. —

Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 31 Oct. 2023 Enlarge Google So Android 14 has this pretty horrible storage bug for upgrading users. —

Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 30 Oct. 2023 Parents, facing horrible headlines about lead's ability to damage the brain, worried whether their children's future had been stunted. —

Michael Phillis and Mike Stobbe The Associated Press, Arkansas Online, 29 Oct. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'horrible.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Time Traveler

The first known use of horrible was in the 14th century

See more words from the same century