Horrid

//ˈhɔ.ɹɪd// adj, adv

adj, adv ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Bristling, rough, rugged. archaic

    "His haughtie Helmet, horrid all with gold, // Both glorious brightnesse and great terror bredd."

  2. 2
    Causing horror or dread.

    "Not in the legions / Of horrid hell, can come a devil more damned / In evils, to top Macbeth."

  3. 3
    Offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable.

    "horrid weather"

Adjective
  1. 1
    exceedingly bad wordnet
  2. 2
    grossly offensive to decency or morality; causing horror wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    Terribly; horridly; to an extreme extent. not-comparable

    "“Beg y’ pardon, sir,” said a voice at the tent door; “but Dormer’s ’orrid bad, sir, an’ they’ve taken him orf, sir.”"

Synonyms

All synonyms
abominableappallingawfuldiredreadfulfrightful

Example

More examples

"The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries, that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin horridus (“rough, bristly, savage, shaggy, rude”), from horrere (“to bristle”). See horrent, horror, ordure.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.