horror

Alternative forms

• horrour (UK, hypercorrect spelling or archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English horer, horrour, from Old French horror, from Latin horror (“a bristling, a shaking, trembling as with cold or fear, terror”), from horrere (“to bristle, shake, be terrified”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɔɹɚ/, /ˈhoɚ/
• (NYC, Philadelphia) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑɹɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒɹə(ɹ), -ɔː(ɹ)
• Homophone: whore (some American accents)
• Homophone: aura (some English accents)
• Rhymes: -ɒɹə

Noun

horror (countable and uncountable, plural horrors)

1. (countable, uncountable) An intense painful emotion of fear or repugnance.
   • 2009, Devin Watson, Horror Screenwriting

     Could there be stories with more horror than these?

2. (countable) An intense dislike or aversion; an abhorrence.
   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Tragedy in Dartmoor Terrace‎:

     “Mrs. Yule's chagrin and horror at what she called her son's base ingratitude knew no bounds ; at first it was even thought that she would never get over it. […]”

3. (uncountable) A genre of fiction, meant to evoke a feeling of fear and suspense.
   • 1898 July 3, Philadelphia Inquirer, page 22:

     The Home Magazine for July (Binghamton and New York) contains ‘The Patriots' War Chant,’ a poem by Douglas Malloch; ‘The Story of the War,’ by Theodore Waters; ‘A Horseman in the Sky,’ by Ambrose Bierce, with a portrait of Mr. Bierce, whose tales of horror are horrible of themselves, not as war is horrible; ‘A Yankee Hero,’ by W. L. Calver; ‘The Warfare of the Future,’ by Louis Seemuller; ‘Florence Nightingale,’ by Susan E. Dickenson, with two rare portraits, etc.

   • 1917 February 11, New York Times, Book reviews, page 52:

     Those who enjoy horror, stories overflowing with blood and black mystery, will be grateful to Richard Marsh for writing ‘The Beetle.’

   • 1947, Dracula (1931) re-release poster, tagline:

     A Nightmare of Horror!

4. (informal) An intense anxiety or a nervous depression; this sense can also be spoken or written as the horrors.

Further reading

• horror in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• horror in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• horror at OneLook Dictionary Search

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin horror.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈhorːor]
• Hyphenation: hor‧ror

Noun

horror (plural horrorok)

1. horror

References

Etymology

From horreo +‎ -or.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈhor.ror/, [ˈhɔr.rɔr]

Noun

horror m (genitive horrōris); third declension

1. bristling (standing on end)
2. shaking, shivering, chill
3. dread, terror, horror

References

• horror in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• horror in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• horror in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

Alternative forms

• horrour
• horrur

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin horror, horrorem.

Noun

horror f (oblique plural horrors, nominative singular horror, nominative plural horrors)

1. horror or terror

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin horror, horrorem.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔˈʁoɾ/
• Hyphenation: hor‧ror

Noun

horror m (plural horrores)

1. horror

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin horror, horrorem.

Cf. also the popular Old Spanish horrura, inherited from a derivative of the Latin or with a change of suffix, and taking on the meaning of "dirtiness, filth, impurity, scum"; comparable to derivatives of horridus in other Romance languages^[1], like Italian ordo, Old French ord, French ordure, Old Catalan hòrreu, horresa, Old Occitan orre, orrezeza, Romanian urdoare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oˈroɾ/

Noun

horror m (plural horrores)

1. horror

References