Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1200-1300
Language: French
Origin: Latin horribilis, from horrere; HORROR

horrible

 adjective
     
hor‧ri‧ble S2
1 very bad - used for example about things you see, taste, or smell, or about the weather:
The weather has been really horrible all week.
a horrible smell
The food looked horrible, but it tasted OK.
2 very unpleasant and often frightening, worrying, or upsetting:
a horrible dream
I have a horrible feeling that we're going to miss the plane.
3 rude and unfriendly:
She's a horrible person.
What a horrible thing to say!
be horrible to somebody
Why are you so horrible to me?
—horribly adverb:
Her face was horribly scarred.
WORD FOCUS: horrible WORD FOCUS: horrible
taste or smell: nasty, not very nice, revolting, disgusting, foul, unpleasant, gross informal
experience, situation, or feeling: nasty, not very nice, terrible, unpleasant
person: nasty, not very nice, obnoxious, mean American English, unpleasant, objectionableWORD FOCUS: bad WORD FOCUS: bad
very bad: awful, terrible, horrible, lousy informal, appalling, ghastly, atrocious, horrendous
bad, but not very bad: not very good, mediocre, second-rate, so-so, lacklustre
of bad quality: shoddy, inferior, poor quality, cheap, crummy informal
bad at doing something: be no good at something
very bad at doing something: hopeless, terrible, useless, lousy informal, incompetent
morally bad: evil, wicked, immoral, corrupt, sick, perverted, degenerate

➔ See also bad
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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