HORROR

horror |ˈhôrər; ˈhär-| noun 1 an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust : children screamed in horror. • a thing causing such a feeling : photographs showed the horror of the tragedy | the horrors of civil war. • a literary or film genre concerned with arousing such feelings : [as adj. ] a horror movie. • intense dismay : to her horror she found that a thief had stolen the machine. • [as exclam. ] ( horrors) chiefly humorous used to express dismay : horrors, two buttons were missing! • [in sing. ] intense dislike : many have a horror of consulting a dictionary. • ( the horrors) an attack of extreme nervousness or anxiety : the mere thought of it gives me the horrors. 2 informal a bad or mischievous person, esp. a child : that little horror Zach was around. ORIGIN Middle English : via Old French from Latin horror, from horrere ‘tremble, shudder’ (see horrid ).