Horrible Meaning
/ˈhɒɹ.ɪ.bəl/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA thing that causes horror; a terrifying thing, particularly a prospective bad consequence asserted as likely to result from an act.
nounA person wearing a comic or grotesque costume in a parade of horribles.
Sentence Examples
I gasped with surprise at the horrible picture of the starving people.
It's horrible to get caught in rush hour traffic.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The movie was so ____ that many people left early.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The news of the natural disaster was truly ____ and left everyone in a state of shock.
Word Origin & History
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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!"
— 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
"A lot of the possible horribles conjured up by the people objecting to this convention ignore the plain language of this treaty."
— 1982, United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, The Genocide Convention: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate:
"The pot had previously simmered skate wings, cods' heads, whales, pigs' hearts and a long litany of other horribles."
— 1991, Alastair Scott, Tracks Across Alaska: A Dog Sled Journey:
"I'm trying to convince him that the criminal behavior that's going on at the White House has to end. And I give him one horrible after the next. I just keep raising them. He sort of swats them away."
— 2000 January 21, John Dean, CNN interview:
"Many scholars have demonstrated these horribles and contemplated significant limitations on class actions."
— 2001, Neil K. Komesar, Law's Limits: The Rule of Law and the Supply and Demand of Rights:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The movie was so ____ that many people left early.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The news of the natural disaster was truly ____ and left everyone in a state of shock.