horrendous
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin horrendus, future passive participle (gerundive) of horreō (“I dread”) + -ous.
Pronunciation
- enPR: hərĕn'dəs, IPA(key): /həˈɹɛndəs/
Audio (Berkshire, England) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛndəs
Adjective
horrendous (comparative more horrendous, superlative most horrendous)
- Extremely bad; awful; terrible.
- There was horrendous carnage at the scene of the plane crash.
- My journey to work this morning was horrendous!
- 2012 March 1, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsid ered”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 87:
- But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea. Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat.
Synonyms
- awful, horrific, terrible, dreadful
Derived terms
down horrendous
Related terms
- horrible
- horrid
- horrific
- horrify
- horror
Translations
extremely bad; awful; terrible
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Trivia
One of four common words ending in -dous, which are hazardous, horrendous, stupendous, and tremendous.[1]
References
- The Word Circus: A Letter-perfect Book, by Richard Lederer, Dave Morice, 1998, p. 229