horrid en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˈhɒ.ɹɪd/ (UK)
- /ˈhɑ.ɹɪd/ (New-York-City, Philadelphia)
- (UK) audio
- /ˈhɔ.ɹɪd/ (General-American)
- (General-American) audio
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers-der. Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰr̥s-éh₁-(ye)-ti Proto-Italic *horzēō Latin horreō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin horridusbor. English horrid Borrowed from Latin horridus (“rough, bristly, savage, shaggy, rude”), from horrere (“to bristle”). See horrent, horror, ordure.
Meanings
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(archaic) Bristling, rough, rugged.
Horrid with fern, and intricate with thorn, / Few paths of human feet, or tracks of beasts, were worn.
1697, Virgil, “The Ninth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:Yea there, where very Desolation dwells, / By grots and caverns shagg'd with horrid shades, / She may pass on with unblench'd majesty, / Be it not done in pride, or in presumption.
1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:His haughtie Helmet, horrid all with gold, // Both glorious brightnesse and great terror bredd.
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 31:
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Causing horror or dread.
Set out the altar! I myself will be / The priest, and boldly do those horrid rites / You shake to think on.
c. 1622, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Sea-Voyage. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act V, scene iv:What say ye then to fair Sir Percivale, / And of the horrid foulness that he wrought,
1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Vivien”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 132:As ſoon as vve had fired, they ſet up the horrideſt Yell, or Hovvling, partly raiſed by thoſe that vvere vvounded, and partly by thoſe that pitied and condoled the Bodies they ſavv lye dead, that I never heard any thing like it before or ſince.
1720, [Daniel Defoe], The Life, Adventures, and Pyracies, of the Famous Captain Singleton, London: […] J[ohn] Brotherton, […], J[ohn] Graves […], A[nne] Dodd, […], and T[homas] Warner, […], →OCLC, pages 69–70:Not in the legions / Of horrid hell, can come a devil more damned / In evils, to top Macbeth.
c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:Give colour to my pale cheek with thy blood, / that we the horrider may seem to those / Which chance to find us;
1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
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Offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable.
horrid weather
About the middle of November we began to work on our Ship's bottom, which we found very much eaten with the Worm: For this is a horrid place for Worms.
1697, William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 362:My Lord Chief Justice Keeling hath laid the constable by the heels to answer it next Sessions: which is a horrid shame.
1668 November 1 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “October 23rd, 1668”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume VIII, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1896, →OCLC:Methinks already I your tears survey, / Already hear the horrid things they say,
1712 May, [Alexander Pope], “The Rape of the Locke. An Heroi-comical Poem.”, in Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, canto IV:[T]hoſe Laſciuious, Immodeſt, VVhoriſh, or vngodly Faſhions, and Attires, vvhich Metamorphiſe, and Transforme, our Light, and Giddie Females of the Superior and Gentile ranke, into ſundry Antique, Horred, and Out-landiſh ſhapes, from day, to day: […]
1628, William Prynne, The Vnlouelinesse, of Louelockes. Or, A Summarie Discourse, Proouing: The Wearing, and Nourishing of a Locke, or Loue-locke, to be Altogether Vnseemely, and Vnlawfull unto Christians. […], London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 1:The other girls in class are always horrid to Jane.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| horrider | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| more horrid | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most horrid | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| horridest | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Deriveds
horridsome · horridness · horridly
Synonyms
buttock-clenching · freaky · revolting · dire · awful · alarming · ghostly · dreadful · spine-tingling · hair-raising · frightensome · horrifying · horrible · fearful · horrific · pulse-pounding · hair-curling · dreadful · flaysome · appalling · hideous · skin-crawling · horrid · terrible · horripilating · alarming · terrorsome · ghastly · frightful · terrifying · grisly · buggish · eldritch · formidable · terrific · shocking · scaring · appalling · frightful · harrowing · dismayful · butt-clenching · scary · abominable · shocking · frightening · affreux · flesh-crawling · awful · horrible
Translations (27)
it orrido (causing horror or dread) · sv gräslig (offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable) · pt horrendo (offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable) · fr affreux (causing horror or dread) · eo aĉa (offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable) · pt horrendo (causing horror or dread) · ru ужасный (offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable) · fr exécrable (offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable) · fr horrible (causing horror or dread) · es hórrido (causing horror or dread) · fr abominable (offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable) · fr ignominieux (offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable) · es horrendo (causing horror or dread) · fa وحشتناک (causing horror or dread) · fi kauhea (causing horror or dread) · ru отвратительный (offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable) · ru страшный (causing horror or dread) · ru ужасный (causing horror or dread) · grc δασπλῆτις (causing horror or dread) · fa بد (offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable) · fi kamala (offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable) · fi kauhea (offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable) · sv gräslig (causing horror or dread) · pt horrível (causing horror or dread) · fr désagréable (offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable) · fi inhottava (offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable) · fr abhorrable (offensive, disagreeable, abominable, execrable)