Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Causing horror; terrifying.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Causing horror.
Wiktionary
- adj. horrifying, causing horror; horrible.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Causing horror; frightful.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. causing fear or dread or terror
- adj. grossly offensive to decency or morality; causing horror
Etymologies
- Latin horrificus, from horrere ("to be horrible") + -ficare ("to make (in comp.)"): confer French horrifique. See horror, -fy. (Wiktionary)
- Latin horrificus : horrēre, to tremble + -ficus, -fic. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Red State is not a comedy, there's been a lot of speculation about what it really is but from what Kevin Smith says I think it sounds more like a thriller with horrific elements added, but using the term horrific not to describe gore and blood but more shocking than anything.”
“By the following month, the new mentors began to document what they describe as horrific conditions.”
The Wall Street Journal: At Afghan Military Hospital, Graft and Deadly Neglect
“U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Syria is engaging in what she calls "horrific" attacks against its own people, but the international community is not currently considering military action against the government in Damascus because regional leaders are working behind the scenes to resolve the crisis.”
Voice of America: Clinton: Syria Engaging in 'Horrific' Attacks Against Own People
“And just a short while ago, President Obama condemned what he called a horrific outburst of violence.”
“We already heard some of that from the president's radio address this weekend, the president essentially saying, despite what he called the horrific images of sectarian violence coming out of Iraq, that he is, in fact, encouraged, as we heard him say today, that Iraq's leaders are responding in a way that will ultimately allow Iraq to establish a democracy.”
“Earlier on Tuesday, Dr. Murray sat stoically with his hands crossed as Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor repeatedly chastised him for what he called a "horrific violation of trust" while caring for Jackson.”
“Similarly gruesome stories of people, especially children, being killed by parents, friends, and strangers in horrific ritual practices have become common in the news in the last four months.”
“Four people have their wishes come true in horrific fashion, and years later have to pay the piper.”
“JACOB, in horrific font: I was thinking more like … resisting arrest.”
“Now, the conversations of the characters throughout (so far) have been sub-par to the narration, but they are just plain horrific when it comes to these two.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘horrific’.
-
LIT - Iliad - key words and protagonists
abduct, abducting, abductor, Achaea, Achaean, Achilles, advise, Aegean, Aegean Sea, Aegina, aegis, Aeneas and 713 more...
-
Overwhelming
Descriptive, emotional, powerful words.
fantastic, great, spectacular, wonderful, delightful, amazing, magnificent, inspiring, intense, brilliant, blatant, hilarious and 2 more...
-
the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
-
parlerodermime's Words
loquacious, orange, lackadaisical, rhythm, esoterrorist, contrary, enchanted, extraordinary, nymph, chatter, incessant, time and 168 more...
-
geekwad's Words
mysterium, elif, reckon, shadowy, ostensibly, unique, foodie, surreptitiously, asynchronous, insane, berserk, space pirate and 235 more...
-
stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
-
my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
-
-fic, -fication
making
-
_mark's list
Words I like!
( personal list, favorite words, randomness )psy, nanobot, success, smack, vibration, microcosmic, springgraph, marksmanship, estranged, homoerotic, flex, fiasco and 1692 more...
-
2007bee-r02
2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee Round 2
query, tendency, danceable, parachute, malignant, brutal, humanely, lyrically, deductible, shindig, gravel, embroidered and 274 more...
-
Favorite Adjectives
My personal favorite adjectives in the English language. Will add as I remember or think of them.
brilliant, gay, homosexual, queer, eccentric, ridiculous, horrific, disgusting, revolting, grotesque, classy, gorgeous and 28 more...
-
trufutant's Words
conundrum, nonsense, foolishness, swell, cacophony, grizzled, hoary, despot, bloke, ravenous, sot, quirt and 83 more...
-
marsfire331's Words
con fuoco, travesty, pococurante, scallawag, philanthropist, xenophile, transcendentalism, gombeen, pariah, anamorphic, allegro, diphthong and 56 more...
-
OrbitalCombustion's Words
nepenthe, phrontistery, peregrination, pervicacious, sinistrality, phallogocentric, prolixity, leptokurtic, ineffable, haecceity, lucubration, vicissitudes and 1026 more...
-
wickerman's Words
xenomorph, arthropod, atheist, coffee, android, horrific, feculent, automaton, radiation, particulate, oligarchy, proletariat and 41 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for horrific.

Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.