The meaning of HORRIBLE is marked by or arousing painful and intense fear, dread, dismay, or aversion : marked by or arousing horror. How to use horrible in a sentence.

Horrible is popularly used to mean extremely bad—awful, dreadful, or horrendous. When it’s used to describe a person, it often means extremely disagreeable or cruel.

HORRIBLE definition: 1. very unpleasant or bad: 2. very shocking and frightening: 3. very unpleasant or bad: . Learn more.

You can call something horrible when it causes you to feel great shock, fear, and disgust. Still the horrible shrieking came out of his mouth.

In conversation, people use horrible and horrid to show their dislike for someone or something. These words can be used to describe almost anything which is unpleasant, ugly, disgusting, or depressing. …

Horrible definition: Arousing or tending to arouse horror; dreadful.

horrible, adj., n., & adv. meanings, etymology, pronunciation and more in the Oxford English Dictionary

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026 hor•ri•ble (hôr′ ə bəl, hor′ -), adj. causing or tending to cause horror; shockingly dreadful: a horrible sight. extremely …

Definition of horrible adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

Horrible means "causing horror," and goes back to the Latin word for “tremble” or “shudder.” A horrible thing makes you shake with fear, like a story about an atrocious crime.