hideous

CEFRC1

/ˈhɪd.i.əs/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Extremely ugly or unpleasant to look at.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Hateful; shocking.

Examples

  • A hideous monster used to live there.

  • Some things get more hideous, when you clean them.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈhɪd͡ʒəs/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings
  1. Having a very unpleasant or frightening sound.

  2. Extremely or shockingly ugly.

  3. Morally offensive; shocking; detestable.

More examples

In context
  • I’m sorry to break it to you, but your dress looks truly hideous.

  • the Duke's army departed unmolested : but the highway along which he retired presented a piteous and hideous spectacle.

  • Like the "Kas," these locomotives were originally semi-streamlined, although their conical snout was not nearly so hideous as the sloping mock-radiators adorning the bigger engines.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The old building had a blank appearance with broken windows and moldy walls.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English hidous, from Anglo-Norman hidous, from Old French hideus, hydus (“that which inspires terror”), from earlier hisdos, from Old French hisda (“horror, fear”), of uncertain and disputed origin. Probably from Proto-West Germanic *agisiþu (“horror, terror”), from Proto-West Germanic *agisōn (“to frighten, terrorise”), from Proto-Germanic *agaz (“terror, fear”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʰ- (“to frighten”). Cognate with Old High German egisa, egidī (“horror”), Old English egesa (“fear, dread”), Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃 (agis, “fear, terror”). Alternative etymology cites possible derivation from Latin hispidosus (“rugged”), from hispidus (“rough, bristly”), yet the semantic evolutio...