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 people who've made it out are telling us horror stories of mass killings, of rape and pillage of women and families. —ABC News, 9 Nov. 2025

Set in a haunted restaurant outside time, the film follows a ghostly host serving four unforgettable horror stories, each centered around a legendary Chinese dish. —Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 5 Nov. 2025

Florida’s final moments against Georgia were fitting for a fireside horror story — that which fans will tell years from now, recounting to their grandchildren the dark ages of this resting college football power. —Noah White, Miami Herald, 2 Nov. 2025

Unfolding like a tragedy in the aftermath of diabolical events makes Agnes that much more of an effective horror story. —Michael Lee Simpson, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Oct. 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