horror-struck

adjective

hor·​ror-struck ˈhȯr-ər-ˌstrək How to pronounce horror-struck (audio)
ˈhär-
Synonyms of horror-strucknext
: struck with horror
… stood horror-struck … as they watched … their own city destroyed …Nashville Tennessean

Examples of horror-struck in a Sentence

horror-struck, the villagers watched helplessly as the tsunami hit the shore
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
For those of us who have spent the last 10 years horror-struck at the mass delusion that Trump is a great man rather than a singularly rapacious and volatile charlatan, Carlson’s words might seem cathartic. Michelle Goldberg, Mercury News, 28 Apr. 2026 Other people were horror-struck by the verdicts in each of these cases, seeing them as a catastrophic failure of the American system of justice. Susan Shelley, Orange County Register, 31 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1814, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of horror-struck was in 1814

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Horror-struck.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/horror-struck. Accessed 17 May. 2026.

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