Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: Old French
Origin: horrour, from Latin horror, from horrere 'to raise one's hair stiffly, shake with fear'

horror

 noun
     
hor‧ror W3
1 [uncountable] a strong feeling of shock and fear
in horror
Staff watched in horror as he set himself alight.
Many people recoil with horror when they see a big spider like this.
to somebody's horror (=making someone shocked or afraid)
To my horror, I realised my shirt was wet with blood.
You should have seen the look of horror on his face.
2 [countable usually plural] something that is very terrible, shocking, or frightening
horror of
the horrors of war
3

the horror of something

when a situation or event is very unpleasant or shocking:
Dense smoke surrounded them, adding to the horror of the situation.
Only when the vehicle was lifted did the full horror of the accident become clear.
4

have a horror of something

to be afraid of something or dislike it very much:
He has a horror of snakes.
5

little horror

British English a young child who behaves badly
6

give somebody the horrors

to make someone feel unreasonably frightened or nervous
7

horror of horrors

British English used to say how bad something is - often used humorously when you think something is not really very bad
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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