different between horrible vs nefarious

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)

1. 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.

2. 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)

1. Causing horror; terrible; shocking.
2. 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.

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)

1. 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)

1. 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)

1. 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)

1. horrible

Derived terms

• horriblemente

Related terms

• horror

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French horrible, orrible, orible, from Latin horribilis.

Adjective

horrible

1. horrible

Descendants

• English: horrible

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin horribilis.

Adjective

horrible (plural horribles)

1. horrible

Derived terms

• horriblemente

Related terms

• horror

English

Etymology

From Latin nef?rius (“execrable, abominable”), from nef?s (“something contrary to divine law, an impious deed, sin, crime”), from ne- (“not”) + f?s (“the dictates of religion, divine law”), which is related to Latin for (“I speak, I say”) and cognate to Ancient Greek ???? (ph?mí, “I say”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n??f???i.?s/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /n??f????.?s/
• Rhymes: -??ri?s

Adjective

nefarious (comparative more nefarious, superlative most nefarious)

1. Sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics.

   Synonyms: evil, iniquitous, sinister, underhanded, vile, good-for-nothing; see also Thesaurus:evil

   • 1828, James Fenimore Cooper, The Red Rover, ch. 2:

     "If the vessel be no fair-trading slaver, nor a common cruiser of his Majesty, it is as tangible as the best man's reasoning, that she may be neither more nor less than the ship of that nefarious pirate the Red Rover."

   • 1877, Anthony Trollope, The Life of Cicero, ch. 9:

     Mommsen . . . declares that Catiline in particular was "one of the most nefarious men in that nefarious age. His villanies belong to the criminal records, not to history."

   • 1921, P. G. Wodehouse, The Indiscretions of Archie, ch. 26:

     The fact that the room was still in darkness made it obvious that something nefarious was afoot. Plainly there was dirty work in preparation at the cross-roads.

   • 2009 Oct. 14, Monica Davey, "Fact Checker Finds Falsehoods in Remarks," New York Times (retrieved 12 May 2014):

     “I try to let everyone back here in Minnesota know exactly the nefarious activities that are taking place in Washington.”

   Aliens have a nefarious connotation in many science fiction books.

Usage notes

• Commonly used in contexts involving villainous plans, conspiracies, or actions, as in:

• 1909, Bram Stoker, The Lady of the Shroud, book 7:

The whole nefarious scheme was one of the "put-up jobs" which are part of the dirty work of a certain order of statecraft.

Derived terms

• nefariously
• nefariousness

Translations

References

• nefarious at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• isofurane