1
as in horrific
extremely disturbing or repellent
a horrible car accident that left eyewitnesses in a state of shock
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in terrifying
causing fear
a horrible scream that made shivers go up and down our spines
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in awful
causing intense displeasure, disgust, or resentment
I can never forgive her for the horrible way she treated me
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in terrible
extremely unsatisfactory
I'm never going back to that restaurant; the service was horrible
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in terror
Related Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of horrible
Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2026
Houston has been shockingly horrible in the clutch.
—Zach Harper, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2026
This is going to be a horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad day.
—Nathan Rott, NPR, 27 Mar. 2026
In another case, a 10-year-old girl contracted horrible lesions on 10 percent of her body — mostly on her legs — after contact with giant hogweed.
—Natalie Krebs, Outdoor Life, 26 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for horrible
Adjective
These are horrible conditions for meaningful dissent.
—Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2026
Houston has been shockingly horrible in the clutch.
—Zach Harper, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2026
This is going to be a horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad day.
—Nathan Rott, NPR, 27 Mar. 2026
In another case, a 10-year-old girl contracted horrible lesions on 10 percent of her body — mostly on her legs — after contact with giant hogweed.
—Natalie Krebs, Outdoor Life, 26 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for horrible
Recent Examples of Synonyms for horrible
Adjective
-
There are people like Les Wexner and Leon Black who have allegedly had such horrific abuse and there has not been any investigations.—
NBC news,
NBC news,
5 Apr. 2026
-
Because their firstborn son had just died, and so that was horrific.—
Marc Weingarten,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Some of his acts are dangerous or terrifying.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
12 Apr. 2026
-
In 1972, Ann-Margret fell 22 feet from a stage during a performance — a terrifying moment that could have ended her career.—
Stephanie Giang-Paunon,
FOXNews.com,
11 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The only way to pull out of an awful season-opening stretch is one at-bat, one pitch, one win at a time.—
Jen McCaffrey,
New York Times,
8 Apr. 2026
-
Still, outside of two games, the offense has been awful.—
Patrick Saunders,
Denver Post,
8 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
At that point, something terrible, something on the scale of the Maidan protests in Ukraine in 2014, is not inconceivable.—
Kapil Komireddi,
New Yorker,
10 Apr. 2026
-
Between some horrendous screw-ups, terrible decision-making, and some plain old bad luck, their situation, and that of their mother, Linda Morelli (Laurie Metcalf), who is running for mayor, only gets worse.—
Maggie Fremont,
Vulture,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Meanwhile, with the country living in terror under Homelander’s reign, Kripke previously noted that the real-world political parallels in Season 5 are coincidental, as the concluding episodes were written before the 2024 election.—
Glenn Garner,
Deadline,
8 Apr. 2026
-
Many experts say long-term regional security depends on Lebanon’s government and army disarming the terror group.—
Benjamin Weinthal,
FOXNews.com,
8 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Dahl’s books are fanciful and imaginative, but also dark, cynical, and mean (and, unfortunately, often reflected his real-life ugliness), spinning stories in which gruesome and unpleasant fates befell rotten kids, and adults were frequently selfish, cruel, and not to be trusted.—
Wilson Chapman,
IndieWire,
10 Apr. 2026
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The evidence at trial included a gruesome video showing Stanfier’s body in the trunk of a car, which had been shared with a woman Jordan-Brooks reportedly met while working at Kentucky Fried Chicken in Emeryville years earlier, court records show.—
Nate Gartrell,
Mercury News,
8 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
How about the less-frightening scenarios?—
Craig MacLellan,
Boston Herald,
3 Apr. 2026
-
Now, parents who haven’t experienced the frightening effects of the highly contagious and fast-moving infection are increasingly opting out of vaccinating their kids against Hib.—
Erika Edwards,
NBC news,
2 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
This was in itself disgusting but also came to represent the city’s problems.—
Rachel Sugar,
Curbed,
8 Apr. 2026
-
Living under an openly misogynistic president may have felt freakish in 2017, but by his second term, bigotry became yet another disgusting norm.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
2 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Horrible.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/horrible. Accessed 12 Apr. 2026.
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