horror
nounUK /ˈhɒɹ.ə/ · CA, US /ˈhɔɹ.ɚ/
Etymology From Middle English horer, horrour, from Old French horror, from Latin horror (“a bristling, a shaking, trembling as with cold or fear, terror”), from horrere (“to bristle, shake, be terrified”). Displaced native Old English ōga.
8 senses
- 1An intense distressing emotion of fear or repugnance.
- 2Something horrible; that which excites horror.
- 3Intense dislike or aversion; an abhorrence.
- 4A genre of fiction designed to evoke a feeling of fear…
- 5An individual work in this genre.
- 6A nasty or ill-behaved person; a rascal or terror.
- 7An intense anxiety or a nervous depression; often the horrors.
- 8Delirium tremens.
1
An intense distressing emotion of fear or repugnance.
- Their swarthy Hosts wou'd darken all our Plains, / Doubling the native Horror of the War, / And making Death more grim.1712, Joseph Addison, Cato: A tragedy, published 1750, page 44:
2
Something horrible; that which excites horror.
- I saw many horrors during the war.
- The Home Magazine for July (Binghamton and New York) contains ‘The Patriots' War Chant,’ a poem by Douglas Malloch; ‘The Story of the War,’ by Theodore Waters; ‘A Horseman in the Sky,’ by Ambrose Bierce, with a portrait of Mr. Bierce, whose tales of horror are horrible of themselves, not as war is horrible; ‘A Yankee Hero,’ by W. L. Calver; ‘The Warfare of the Future,’ by Louis Seemuller; ‘Florence Nightingale,’ by Susan E. Dickenson, with two rare portraits, etc.1898 July 3, Philadelphia Inquirer, page 22:
1 more example
- Could there be stories with more horror than these?2009, Devin Watson, Horror Screenwriting:
3
Intense dislike or aversion; an abhorrence.
- “Mrs. Yule's chagrin and horror at what she called her son's base ingratitude knew no bounds ; at first it was even thought that she would never get over it. […] ”1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Tragedy in Dartmoor Terrace”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:
4
A genre of fiction designed to evoke a feeling of fear and suspense.
- Those who enjoy horror, stories overflowing with blood and black mystery, will be grateful to Richard Marsh for writing ‘The Beetle.’1917 February 11, New York Times, Book reviews, page 52:
- A well-received Johnny Fuller R & B horror called "Haunted House."1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 156:
1 more example
- […] there were hastily produced B movies, such as the peplums, the spaghetti westerns, the detective stories, the horrors.2006, Pierluigi on Cinema:
5
An individual work in this genre.
6
Colloquial A nasty or ill-behaved person; a rascal or terror.
- The neighbour's kids are a pack of little horrors!
7
Informal An intense anxiety or a nervous depression; often the horrors.
8
In plural, Informal Delirium tremens.
- `My belief is that he had the horrors without knowin' it.'1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 53:
- Synonyms
- nightmare
- Derived terms
51 terms
analog horror, analogue horror, Belsen horror, body horror, chamber of horrors, digital horror, dry horrors, ecohorror, Eurohorror, folk horror, fridge horror, horror autotoxicus, horror chamber, horrorcore, horrorfest, horror film, horror flick, horrorful, horrorist, horrorize, horrorless, horrormeister, horrormonger, horror movie, horror of horrors, horrorous, horror punk, horrorscope, horror show, horror-show, horrorsome, horror story, horror-stricken, horror-struck, horrorthon, horror-thriller, horror vacui, horrorzine, house of horrors, J-horror, K-horror, mascot horror, midnight horror, nonhorror, outhorror, psychological horror, quiet horror, shock horror, survival horror, technohorror, whorror- Related terms
- horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifical, horrification, horrify
- Hypernyms
- speculative fiction