See Also: horrible(dictionary)
horrible(dictionary)

horrible (iou)



horrible adjective, noun, & adverb. ME.
[Old French orrible, (also mod.) horrible from Latin horribilis, from horrere (of hair) stand on end, tremble, shudder: see -IBLE.]
A. adjective. Exciting, or likely to excite, horror; repulsive, hideous, shocking; colloq. excessive, frightful, unpleasant. ME.
V. Woolf I should stand in a queue and smell sweat, and scent as horrible as sweat. J. F. Lehmann It was horrible to me to imagine them being trained to kill young Englishmen. R. Davies The horrible children had become more tolerable since last he saw them. R. Ingalls The weather there was horrible.
b. noun. A horrible person or thing; that which is horrible. Formerly also, something exciting horror. LME.
H. Melville Such a waggish leering as lurks in all you horribles! Conan Doyle There is but one step from the grotesque to the horrible.
C. adverb. Horribly. Now rare. LME.
horribleness noun (a) the quality of being horrible; (b) a feeling of horror: LME.
horribly adverb in a horrible manner; exceedingly: ME.