hor-, horr-

A quality of extreme unappealingness: The horridness of the colors that were painted on the building disgusted those who lived in the neighborhood.

1. Grossly offensive to decency or morality: The talk-show host was making horrific comments to callers who disagreed with his political positions.
2. Very bad and appalling: There were horrific accidents on the highway that resulted in at least ten people being killed.

The report detailed the horrific conditions of the spring snowfall and the freezing of the budding peaches, apples, cherries, grapes, pecans, etc.

That which causes a very strong feelings of fear, shock, or disgust: The horrifications of the fighting among the opposing sports fans was so disgusting that many of the other people, including Joe and Dirk, left the stadium and went home.

1. To cause someone to feel terror or fear: Greg horrified Mary and Sally at school with the snake that he had caught.
2. To cause an unpleasant surprise or perturbation to someone: "Norman, don't horrify your mother with such gruesome stories!"
3. To distress or to greatly dismay people: The company horrified its employees with the news that the lack of business would result in several people losing their jobs.

Erection of the hairs on the skin by contraction of the cutaneous muscles (caused by cold, fear or other emotion, or nervous affection), producing the condition known as "gooseflesh", "goose bumps", and "creeping of the flesh": Erika horripilates when she sees all the violence in movies and on TV.

A process of causing goose bumps: Sean and Ingrid experienced horripilations, or the erections of bristling body hairs, because of fear resulting from the strong winter winds and snowstorms as they were trying to get home.

Characteristic of something that sounds beastly or which produces terrible sounds: The misbehavior of the children resulted in the mother yelling horrisonant words at them. © ALL rights are reserved.

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1. A very strong feeling of fear, shock, or repulsion: The children screamed in horror when the tornado hit the school.
2. A feeling of distress or distaste: Janine has a terrible horror of snakes.
3. Something that causes a very strong feeling of fright, terror, or disgust: The public is starting to be more aware of the horrors of war.
4. A very unpleasant or unsightly thing: The horrors of seeing so many injured and dead people caused by the exploding bombs in the city were more than the TV viewers could endure.

A reference to a very strong feeling of distress, disquietude, or disturbance: Ted went to help his most horrorstricken sister after she had discovered that her little baby Timothy was stolen from his crib.

Briefly paralyzed with agony or terror: The family was horrorstruck when they heard that their daughter was killed by falling rocks and chalk-cliff material while she was walking down the steps to the beach.