1
as in horrible
causing fear
a horrendous explosion shook the building
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in awful
causing intense displeasure, disgust, or resentment
a horrendous breach of good manners that should not escape censure
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in horrific
extremely disturbing or repellent
emergency room personnel did not flinch even from the most horrendous injuries
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of horrendous
About a decade after the Baghdad Group for Modern Art dissolved, the city began a long, continuous, 40-plus-year slide from hopeful to horrendous.
—
Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 20 June 2025
Accident near Ocean Reef Club The horrendous crash happened just after 9 p.m on April 25, 2019, at the end of Card Sound Road at the north end of Key Largo where the road meets County Road 905.
—Charles Rabin, Miami Herald, 1 Aug. 2025
The next horrendous hair saga was totally self-inflicted.
—Sherry Kuehl, Kansas City Star, 23 July 2025
The Braves are seemingly out of postseason contention after a horrendous first half of the season, but their roster isn't bad.
—Zach Pressnell, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for horrendous
Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 20 June 2025
Accident near Ocean Reef Club The horrendous crash happened just after 9 p.m on April 25, 2019, at the end of Card Sound Road at the north end of Key Largo where the road meets County Road 905.
—Charles Rabin, Miami Herald, 1 Aug. 2025
The next horrendous hair saga was totally self-inflicted.
—Sherry Kuehl, Kansas City Star, 23 July 2025
The Braves are seemingly out of postseason contention after a horrendous first half of the season, but their roster isn't bad.
—Zach Pressnell, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for horrendous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for horrendous
Adjective
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The sandwich, featuring ground meat—generally beef—suspended in a thick, sweet tomatoey sauce, has become an avatar of the horrible school lunch, a cliché that tends to go along with hairnets, greasy aprons, and other elements of canteen grotesquerie.—
Helen Rosner,
New Yorker,
17 Aug. 2025
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The stories have overflowed with a horrible, glorious narrative abundance.—
Lyz Lenz,
Rolling Stone,
16 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Traveling down a dirt road in the park, the men heard the awful sound of a tire on the RV going flat.—
Keith Matheny,
Freep.com,
23 Aug. 2025
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Don’t rely on an aesthetic that most people can easily see is awful.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
23 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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But Indy got hit with a two-by-four with Tyrese Haliburton’s horrific Achilles tear in the first quarter of Game 7 of the finals.—
David Aldridge,
New York Times,
19 Aug. 2025
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In the end, the book circles back to the Jewish search for a home after the catastrophe of World War II and, in just a few potent pages, the consequent suffering of the Palestinians, magnified by the current horrific destruction underway in Gaza.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
19 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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What to know about the committee’s investigation into Epstein. 'Like a horror movie' Exhausting, terrifying and like something out of a horror movie.—
Rebecca Morin,
USA Today,
20 Aug. 2025
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These Phillies have faced various forms of adversity in recent years, and none of it rises to this — their ace sidelined by a terrifying blood clot six weeks from the start of another postseason filled with great expectations.—
Matt Gelb,
New York Times,
19 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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In the ugliest defeat of a season belatedly compiling them, the New York Mets blew an early 6-0 lead Wednesday to fall to the Atlanta Braves 11-6.—
Tim Britton,
New York Times,
14 Aug. 2025
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The Navy must address the ugly fact that, despite all the security America can provide, a diverse array of enemies, rivals and criminals can shut the Panama Canal down at virtually any time.—
Craig Hooper,
Forbes.com,
14 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Galpin’s storyline does conclude in Episode 2 of Wednesday Season 2, Part 1 as the lonely man dies a gruesome death, discovered by Wednesday.—
Dessi Gomez,
Deadline,
8 Aug. 2025
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And part of his interaction with the public had become a rather gruesome tradition: Osbourne would throw pieces of raw meat and animal parts, including intestines and liver.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
23 July 2025
Adjective
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Whether your team is in the middle of a winning run or mired in terrible form, five minutes looking at the standings can convince you that a hundred different futures are possible.—
Anantaajith Raghuraman,
New York Times,
14 Aug. 2025
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While the latter is known for its legendarily terrible English localization, both of these were highly innovative horizontal scrolling shmups for their time.—
Ollie Barder,
Forbes.com,
14 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Kruse and her co-conspirators are now on their fourth different set of lawyers in this dispute, and this is a disgusting publicity stunt by new counsel, as evidenced by the fact that the complaint and press release were sent to the press before the complaint was served.—
Michaela Zee,
Variety,
13 Aug. 2025
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The series sets the various human and humanoid segments of its cast on a direct course with the distinctly inhuman alien flora and fauna on the ship – there are some inventive little monsters aboard, disgusting and harrowing in their own special ways – to great effect.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
12 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Horrendous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/horrendous. Accessed 28 Aug. 2025.
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