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

Social media is full of food delivery horror stories. —Shannon Keating, Time, 8 May 2026

During the legislative session, Tips focused less on regulating NADOs and more on banning them, outlining some of the horror stories that have drawn media attention and contrasting how funeral services providers like herself could handle care. —Dug Begley, Houston Chronicle, 4 May 2026

Whereas Lansing’s treatment of Shackleton’s Antarctic survival epic is stirring, Philbrick’s tale of the Essex is more like a horror story. —Eva Holland, The Atlantic, 30 Apr. 2026

Musgraves and Lambert bonded over something else in their duet, beyond horse riding prowess and marital horror stories. —Chris Willman, Variety, 29 Apr. 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