different between horrible vs dismal
horrible
English
Etymology
First attested in Middle English (alternately as horrible and orrible) in 1303: from Old French horrible, orrible, orible, from Latin horribilis, from horr(?re) (“tremble”) + -ibilis (“-ible”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /?h???b?l/
- (US) IPA(key): /?h???b?l/, /?h???b?l/, [-b??]
- (NYC, Philadelphia, Ireland) IPA(key): /?h???b?l/
Noun
horrible (plural horribles)
- A thing that causes horror; a terrifying thing, particularly a prospective bad consequence asserted as likely to result from an act.
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick
- Here's a carcase. I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing. Such a waggish leering as lurks in all your horribles!
- 1982, United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, The Genocide Convention: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate
- A lot of the possible horribles conjured up by the people objecting to this convention ignore the plain language of this treaty.
- 1991, Alastair Scott, Tracks Across Alaska: A Dog Sled Journey
- The pot had previously simmered skate wings, cods' heads, whales, pigs' hearts and a long litany of other horribles.
- 2000, John Dean, CNN interview, January 21, 2000:
- I'm trying to convince him that the criminal behavior that's going on at the White House has to end. And I give him one horrible after the next. I just keep raising them. He sort of swats them away.
- 2001, Neil K. Komesar, Law's Limits: The Rule of Law and the Supply and Demand of Rights
- Many scholars have demonstrated these horribles and contemplated significant limitations on class actions.
- 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick
- A person wearing a comic or grotesque costume in a parade of horribles.
Translations
Adjective
horrible (comparative horribler or more horrible, superlative horriblest or most horrible)
- Causing horror; terrible; shocking.
- Tremendously bad.
- 2010, Roger Ebert, Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2010, page 599:
- Having now absorbed all or parts of 750 responses to my complaints about Transformers, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that most of those writing agree with me that it is a horrible movie.
- 2010, Roger Ebert, Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2010, page 599:
Synonyms
- See Thesaurus:frightening
- See Thesaurus:bad
Related terms
- horrific
- horrify
- horror
- horrendous
Translations
References
Asturian
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin horribilis.
Adjective
horrible (epicene, plural horribles)
- horrible
Related terms
- horror
Catalan
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin horribilis.
Pronunciation
- (Balearic, Central) IPA(key): /u?ri.bl?/
- (Valencian) IPA(key): /o?ri.ble/
Adjective
horrible (masculine and feminine plural horribles)
- horrible
Derived terms
- horriblement
Related terms
- horror
French
Etymology
From Old French horrible, orrible, orible, borrowed from Latin horribilis.
Pronunciation
- (mute h) IPA(key): /?.?ibl/
Adjective
horrible (plural horribles)
- horrible; causing horror.
Related terms
- horreur
Further reading
- “horrible” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Galician
Alternative forms
- horríbel
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin horribilis.
Adjective
horrible m or f (plural horribles)
- horrible
Derived terms
- horriblemente
Related terms
- horror
Middle English
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French horrible, orrible, orible, from Latin horribilis.
Adjective
horrible
- horrible
Descendants
- English: horrible
Spanish
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin horribilis.
Adjective
horrible (plural horribles)
- horrible
Derived terms
- horriblemente
Related terms
- horror
horrible From the web:
- what horrible things happened in 2020
- what horrible events are chronicled in the newspaper
- what horrible riverdale plotline are you
- what terrible tragedy happened in 1989
- what horrible thought struck harry
- what terrible things happened in 2020
- what worst things happened in 2020
- what bad things happened in 2020
dismal
English
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman dismal, from Old French (li) dis mals ("(the) bad days"), from Medieval Latin di?s (“day”) m?l? (“bad”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?d?zm?l/
- Rhymes: -?zm?l
Adjective
dismal (comparative more dismal, superlative most dismal)
- Disastrous, calamitous
- Disappointingly inadequate.
- Causing despair; gloomy and bleak.
- Depressing, dreary, cheerless.
Usage notes
- Nouns to which "dismal" is often applied: failure, performance, state, record, place, result, scene, season, year, economy, future, fate, weather, news, condition, history.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:cheerless
Derived terms
- dismal science
Translations
Anagrams
- almids
dismal From the web:
- what dismal means
- what's dismal failure
- dismaland what does it mean
- dismal what does it mean
- dismal what part of speech
- what is dismal science
- what do dismal mean
- what does dismal prognosis mean
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