different between horrible vs terrific
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
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- what horrible riverdale plotline are you
- what terrible tragedy happened in 1989
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- what terrible things happened in 2020
- what worst things happened in 2020
- what bad things happened in 2020
terrific
English
Alternative forms
- terrifick (obsolete)
Etymology
From French terrifique, and its source, Latin terrificus (“terrifying”), from terrere (“to frighten, terrify”) + -ficus, from facere (“to make”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /t????f?k/
- Rhymes: -?f?k
Adjective
terrific (comparative more terrific, superlative most terrific)
- (now rare) Terrifying, causing terror; terrible; sublime, awe-inspiring. [from 17th c.]
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:frightening
- 1796–7, Mary Wollstonecraft, The Wrongs of Woman, Oxford 2009, p. 83:
- [T]he dismal shrieks of demoniac rage […] roused phantoms of horror in her mind, far more terrific than all that dreaming superstition ever drew.
- 1821, Charles Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer, volume 2, page 154:
- Think of wandering amid sepulchral ruins, of stumbling over the bones of the dead, of encountering what I cannot describe,—the horror of being among those who are neither the living or the dead;—those dark and shadowless things that sport themselves with the reliques of the dead, and feast and love amid corruption,—ghastly, mocking, and terrific.
- Very strong or intense; excessive, tremendous. [from 18th c.]
- The car came round the bend at a terrific speed.
- I've got a terrific hangover this morning.
- Extremely good; excellent, amazing. [from 19th c.]
- I say! She's a terrific tennis player.
Synonyms
- brilliant
- horrific
Related terms
- terrible
- terrify
- terrifying
- terror
- terrorist
- terrorize
Translations
Further reading
- terrific in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- terrific in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Anagrams
- ferritic
terrific From the web:
- what terrific means
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