horror

hor|ror

W3 [ˈhɔrə US ˈho:rər, ˈha:-] n

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

1.) [U]

a strong feeling of shock and fear

in horror

▪ Staff watched in horror as he set himself alight.

with horror

▪ Many people recoil with horror when they see a big spider like this.

to sb'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.) [C usually plural]

something that is very terrible, shocking, or frightening

horror of

▪ the horrors of war

3.) the horror of sth

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 sth

to be afraid of something or dislike it very much

▪ He has a horror of snakes.

5.) little horror

BrE a young child who behaves badly

6.) give sb the horrors

to make someone feel unreasonably frightened or nervous

7.) horror of horrors

BrE used to say how bad something is - often used humorously when you think something is not really very bad