horrible

adjective

hor·​ri·​ble ˈhȯr-ə-bəl 

ˈhär-

1

: marked by or arousing painful and intense fear, dread, dismay, or aversion : marked by or arousing horror

a horrible accident

2

: extremely bad or unpleasant

a horrible mistake

horrible food

horrible noun

horribleness noun

horribly

ˈhȯr-ə-blē 

ˈhär-

adverb

Synonyms of horrible

• horrific
• gruesome
• terrible
• shocking
• nightmare
• awful

Examples of horrible in a Sentence

He suffered a horrible death.

The crime scene was too horrible to describe.

The team had a horrible season last year.

He realized that he had made a horrible mistake.

Recent Examples on the Web

Aston Villa 1-1 Tottenham Chelsea vs Nottingham Forest Again, this is horrible scheduling on a Bank Holiday Monday afternoon, three days before Forest go to Villa for the second leg of that Europa League semi-final. —Oliver Kay, New York Times, 1 May 2026

McDaniels called five Nuggets players horrible defenders, mentioning them by name like a teacher taking attendance. —Troy Renck, Denver Post, 1 May 2026

The latter group comes from experts and in some cases, people who have been through the horrible experience of seeing a loved one disappear. —Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 27 Apr. 2026

Your cab driver is taking you on a horrible route. —Zach Schiffman, Curbed, 24 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English orible, horrible, borrowed from Anglo-French, borrowed from Latin horribilis, from horrēre "to be stiffly erect, bristle (of hair, weapons, plants), shudder, shiver" + -ibilis "capable of exhibiting or causing (the action of the verb)" — more at horror entry 1, -able

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for horrible

• adorable
• deplorable
• storable

Kids Definition

horrible

adjective

hor·​ri·​ble ˈhȯr-ə-bəl 

ˈhär-

1

: marked by or arousing horror

2

: extremely unpleasant or bad

horrible food

horribly

-blē 

adverb