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  1. hideous love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Repulsive, especially to the sight; revoltingly ugly. See Synonyms at ugly.
  2. adj. Offensive to moral sensibilities; despicable.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Frightful in appearance, sound, or character; very dreadful; horrible; detestable; revolting: as, a hideous monster; a hideous uproar; hideous debauchery.
  2. Synonyms Grim, Grisly, etc. (see ghastly); horrid, terrible, appalling.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Frightful; shocking; extremely ugly.
  2. adj. Distressing or offensive to the ear; horrible.
  3. adj. Hateful; shocking.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Frightful, shocking, or offensive to the eyes; dreadful to behold.
  2. adj. Distressing or offensive to the ear; exciting terror or dismay.
  3. adj. Hateful; shocking.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. grossly offensive to decency or morality; causing horror
  2. adj. so extremely ugly as to be terrifying

Etymologies

  1. From Middle English hidous, from Anglo-Norman hidous, from Old French hideus, hydus ("that which inspires terror"), from earlier hisdos, from hisda ("horror, fear"), of uncertain and disputed origin. Probably from Frankish *egisda, *egisida (“terror, fright”), from Proto-Germanic *agisiþō (“horror, terror”), from Proto-Germanic *agisōnan (“to frighten, terrorise”), from Proto-Germanic *agaz (“terror, fear”), from Proto-Indo-European *aǵʰ-, *agʰ- (“to frighten”). Cognate with Old High German egisa, egidī ("horror"), Old English egesa ("fear, dread"), Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃 (agis, "fear, terror"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English, variant of hidous, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French hide, hisde, fear, possibly of Germanic origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Pretty much all of this has what you describe as hideous consequences.”

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  • “Interesting" is what you call the hideous dress one's wife asks you to critique.”

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  • “Even more hideous is the declared involvement in these proceedings at Guantánamo of qualified medical practitioners.”

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  • “To me, Free Dress Days were forceful reminders of why I was grateful to spend 99% of my school time in hideous polyester ensembles of polo shirts and Dockers.”

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  • “Sometimes this can go as far as that character based on you being tortured or killed in hideous ways.”

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  • “And I couldn't go around announcing "I'm in hideous pain, feels like a giant bird has its claws in my neck," so I had to pretend I felt just like everyone else at parties and meetings.”

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  • “The grape vine is climbing up the berry tree and the blackberry is having a pissing contest with something hideous from the neighbour's side of the fence about who has the biggest brambles.”

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  • “Their faces and bodies were tattooed or scarred in hideous designs.”

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  • “When an industry acts in hideous ways toward people, then we do need government to intervene.”

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  • “In its grimmest aspects, misogyny manifests itself in hideous violence — from brutal beatings and rape to outright torture and murder.”

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synonyms (13)

Words with the same meaning

  1. grim
  2. ghastly
  1. horrid
  2. frightful
  1. terrible
  2. grisly
  1. dreadful
  2. hateful
  1. shocking
  2. ugly
  1. horrible
  2. abominable
  1. grotesque

equivalents (2)

Other words for ‘hideous’

  1. offensive
  1. ugly

same context (6)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. horrible
  1. ugly
  1. frightful
  1. monstrous
  1. huge
  1. miserable

rhymes (3)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. fastidious
  1. insidious
  1. invidious

reverse dictionary (34)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. ghastly
  2. hideous
  3. hidious
  4. eldritch
  5. horrible
  6. horrid
  1. grimly
  2. ogre
  3. sea-monster
  4. gashful
  5. eldrich
  6. hideosity
  1. hideously
  2. hideousness
  3. hidous
  4. monstrous
  5. ogress
  6. horrendous
  1. nay
  2. ugsome
  3. Erinyes
  4. Eumenides
  5. grotesque
  6. horridly
  1. monstrosity
  2. monstrously
  3. fury
  4. tintamar
  5. yell
  6. frightful
  1. grim
  2. mandrill
  3. taniwha
  4. ugly

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‘hideous’ has been looked up 2754 times, loved by 4 people, added to 32 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 11.