Horrific

//həˈɹɪfɪk// adj

adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Causing horror; horrifying.

    "a horrific sight"

Adjective
  1. 1
    causing fear or dread or terror wordnet
  2. 2
    grossly offensive to decency or morality; causing horror wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
execrableterrificterrificaffreuxalarmingappalling

Example

More examples

"Their savage cruelty against God's people was beyond horrific, resulting in the Maccabean uprising."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin horrificus, from horreō (“to be afraid”) + -ficō (“to make”).

More for "horrific"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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