Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Hideous; dreadful: "Horrendous explosions shook the whole city” ( Howard Kaplan).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Fearful; frightful.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. obsolete Fearful; frightful.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. causing fear or dread or terror
Etymologies
- From Latin horrendus, future participle of horrēre ("to dread"). (Wiktionary)
- From Latin horrendus, from gerundive of horrēre, to tremble. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Back in 2007, advocates for the mentally ill filed a lawsuit, citing what they called horrendous conditions at the psychiatric unit here at this hospital.”
“Probably a majority of ethical vegetarians, vegans, and humane animal farming types, are left of center, and many of them would say that the diet of the majority of Americans implicates them in horrendous cruelty — and surely the accusation of immorality is at least as insulting to upstanding folk as an accusation of being a hick.”
“Neither of us are comfortable in horrendous traffic, but we can do it.”
“These "independent" chicken catchers were forced to work 12-hour shifts in horrendous conditions for days on end, with no paid overtime.”
“They oppress and partake in horrendous bullying in interviews.”
“We are human and war, while horrendous is sometimes necessary.”
“And how do you explain horrendous murder and rape rate in South Africa?”
“Not to mention that the current system results in horrendous difficulties for some in society when the get small injuries.”
Matthew Yglesias » Public Health Versus Health Care Financing
“That feeling flooded through me as we sat in horrendous Manhattan traffic.”
“Yes, there is no doubt 6 million Jews died in horrendous ways, and the Holocaust should always be remembered.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘horrendous’.
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+o +u
O before U.
noctilucent, noctilucin, noctilucous, noctua, noctuid, globular, glout, gomuti, gossypium, goura, gourami, goulash and 25 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
bumwank, calamity, recalcitrant, gayenese, jeeze, nonsense, flabbergasted, juxtapose, procrastinating, ossanity, biffing, loser and 1972 more... -
summerwing's Words
proctosigmoidoscopy, horrendous, cichlid, implode, nostalgic, firmament, elucidate, quintet, rhombus, mack, pithy, rambunctious and 304 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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The "dark" things
grave, dead, death, die, died, dies, murder, murdered, murderer, murders, murdering, murderous and 115 more...
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DEF's list
Obscure Words
obfuscate, harbinger, morose, meniscus, conspicuous, grandiose, cogitated, matron, erudite, oness, apothegms, assuage and 475 more...
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Words Simon Cowell could not live wit...
Words Simon Cowell has used or you know would love to use in his onslaught of scathing remarks for American Idol contestants. C'mon, you know you love em!
dreadful, abysmal, ghastly, god-awful, horrendous, cabaret, brilliant, old-fashioned
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Setting the Scene: Dark and Dreary
Words that lend to the dark and dreary atmosphere of gothic literature.
dark, dreary, shroud, shrouded, veiled, skeleton, skeletal, dead, death, murky, gloomy, lugubrious and 274 more...
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complicated words
mire, mirth, misapplication, reluctant, aghast, surreptitiously, wares, abashed, leap, dash, peer, tangle and 107 more...
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vocab
hard word word 4 strong vocab
ostracize, importune, impute, scintillate, mulct, deprecate, procrastinate, rusticate, vegetate, expiate, emulate, gesticulate and 345 more...
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MacBean's Words
verisimilitude, antediluvian, schadenfreude, eviscerate, exsanguinate, onomatopoeia, aesthetic, apocryphal, aubergine, byronic, brouhaha, bordello and 523 more...
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Words that make velvetrabbit squeak w...
puce, slug, slimy, sensible, product, horrendous, horoscope, dreary, nice, smug, kiddies, tabloid and 23 more...
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TOI may 22
opine, vexed, prudent, horrendous, jeopardise, cede, ratify, dichotomy, malaise
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konoka's Words
volatile, erudite, deux ex machina, 1337, etymology, ensnare, wanderlust, miscreant, archaic, erotic, purloin, vernacular and 56 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for horrendous.
Telofy I may be three years late—wouldn’t be the first time—but here is a list of some 160 words directly from the omniscient OED:
acanthocladous, amphipodous, annelidous, apodous, arachnidous, arthropodous, avidous, bifidous, biohazardous, blendous, blizzardous, brachiopodous, branchiopodous, centifidous, cephalopodous, cheiropodous, chilopodous, chondropodous, cœnopodous, cogitabundous, commodous, condylopodous, confidous, copepodous, cordous, cowardous, cupidous, cynipidous, cynopodous, decapodous, diplopodous, dipodous, discopodous, discordous, dolichopodous, enodous, fecundous, frondous, gasteropodous, goliardous, hazardous, hebecladous, heteropodous, hexapodous, hidous, hoplopodous, horrendous, hybridous, hyperhexapodous, hypo-iodous, hypiodous, incommodous, infandous, infecundous, infidous, intremendous, invalidous, iodous, isopodous, jeopardous, lagopodous, lapidous, laterigradous, legendous, lemuridous, ligniperdous, lividous, macropodous, mastigopodous, megalopodous, merdous, mesomyodous, micropodous, mirabundous, mirandous, molybdous, monochordous, monopodous, mucidous, multifidous, multimodous, multinodous, multipedous, myriapodous, myxopodous, nefandous, nematopodous, nereidous, neuropodous, niggardous, nitidous, nodous, octopodous, olidous, omnimodous, ornithopodous, ostracodous, ostracopodous, pachypodous, palladous, palmipedous, paludous, parallelepipedous, parricidous, pelecypodous, peristeropodous, peropodous, phyllocladous, phyllopodous, physogradous, plecolepidous, -podous, poecilopodous, polycladous, polylepidous, polypodous, pteropodous, pudendous, pudibundous, pygopodous, quadrupedous, repandous, retrogradous, rhizopodous, rhodous, ribaldous, rubicundous, ruvidous, sauropodous, scarabæidous, schizopodous, sciapodous, siphonopodous, solidipedous, solipedous, sordidous, splendidous, steganopodous, stomapodous, stomatopodous, stupendous, stupidous, surquidous, surquedous, syncladous, tardigradous, taxeopodous, tepidous, tetradecapodous, tetrapodous, theropodous, thoracipodous, timidous, trachelipodous, tremendous, trochalopodous, turbidous, turgidous, tylopodous, unhazardous, untremendous, validous, vanadous, velellidous, verdous, verecundous, vespidous, viverridous Aug 24, 2010
oroboros I'm told that the words hazardous, horrendous, stupendous and tremendous are the only four words that end in 'dous' in the English language. Come on, Wordies, let's prove 'em wrong! Oct 4, 2007