horrendous

/həˈrɛndɪs/

/həˈrɛndəs/

Other forms: horrendously

Bad luck, an injury, a mistake, an unfortunate outfit, or a crime — anything can be called horrendous if it causes such dread or fear that you can barely even think about it.

If you’ve ever encountered something horrendous, you won’t be surprised to learn that the word traces back to the Latin word horrere, meaning "to bristle with fear, shudder." That’s a good way to think about horrendous things — they cause you to shudder. You can use the word to describe any type of thing — people, ideas, actions, and so on — but save it for those things that are not merely bad but instead are truly horrifying.

Definitions of horrendous

1. adjective

   causing fear or dread or terror
   synonyms: awful, dire, direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrific, terrible

   alarming

   frightening because of an awareness of danger