See also: hòrrid

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from Latin horridus (rough, bristly, savage, shaggy, rude), from horrere (to bristle). See horrent, horror, ordure.

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

horrid (comparative horrider or more horrid, superlative horridest or most horrid)

  1. (archaic) Bristling, rough, rugged.
  2. Causing horror or dread.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:frightening
  3. Offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable.
    horrid weather
    The other girls in class are always horrid to Jane.
    • 1668 October 23, Samuel Pepys, Diary, 1858, Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys, F.R.S., Volume 4, 6th Edition, page 39,
      My Lord Chief Justice Keeling hath laid the constable by the heels to answer it next Sessions: which is a horrid shame.
    • 1649, William Dampier, A New Voyage Round The World[2], page 362:
      About the middle of November we began to work on our Ship's bottom, which we found very much eaten with the Worm: For this is a horrid place for Worms.
    • 1712 May, [Alexander Pope], “The Rape of the Locke. An Heroi-comical Poem.”, in Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. [], London: [] Bernard Lintott [], →OCLC, canto IV:
      Methinks already I your tears survey, / Already hear the horrid things they say,

Usage notesEdit

  • According to OED, horrid and horrible were originally almost synonymous, but in modern use horrid is somewhat less strong and tending towards the "offensive, disagreeable" sense.[1]

SynonymsEdit

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TranslationsEdit

ReferencesEdit