horrible

CEFRA2

/ˈhɒɹ.ɪ.bəl/

adjective · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Very unpleasant, frightening, or extremely bad in some way.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    A person wearing a comic or grotesque costume in a parade of horribles.

Examples

  • I gasped with surprise at the horrible picture of the starving people.

  • It's horrible to get caught in rush hour traffic.

At a glance

Sits at A2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Also pronounced

  • [-b(ə)ɫ]

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Causing horror; terrible; shocking.

  2. Tremendously bad.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. A thing that causes horror; a terrifying thing, particularly a prospective bad consequence asserted as likely to result from an act.

More examples

In context

  • A lot of the possible horribles conjured up by the people objecting to this convention ignore the plain language of this treaty.

  • Here's a carcase. I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing. Such a waggish leering as lurks in all your horribles!

  • Strangers fainted dead away at the sight of the Laughing Man's horrible face. Acquaintances shunned him.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The movie was so blank that many people left early.

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

Nearby

Origin

adjective

First attested in Middle English (alternately as horrible and orrible) in 1303: from Old French horrible, orrible, orible, from Latin horribilis, from horr(ēre) (“tremble”) + -ibilis (“-ible”).