hor·ror

[hawr-er, hor-]
noun
1.
an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting; a shuddering fear: to shrink back from a mutilated corpse in horror.
2.
anything that causes such a feeling: killing, looting, and other horrors of war.
3.
such a feeling as a quality or condition: to have known the horror of slow starvation.
4.
a strong aversion; abhorrence: to have a horror of emotional outbursts.
5.
Informal. something considered bad or tasteless: That wallpaper is a horror. The party was a horror.
6.
horrors, Informal.
b.
extreme depression.
adjective
7.
inspiring or creating horror, loathing, aversion, etc.: The hostages told horror stories of their year in captivity.
8.
centered upon or depicting terrifying or macabre events: a horror movie.
00:10
Horror is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
interjection
9.
horrors, (used as a mild expression of dismay, surprise, disappointment, etc.)

Origin:
1520–30; < Latin horror, equivalent to horr- (stem of horrēre to bristle with fear; see horrendous) + -or -or1; replacing Middle English orrour < Anglo-French < Latin horrōr-, stem of horror


1. dread, dismay, consternation. See terror. 4. loathing, antipathy, detestation, hatred, abomination.


1. serenity. 4. attraction.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
horror (ˈhɒrə) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  extreme fear; terror; dread
2.  intense loathing; hatred
3.  (often plural) a thing or person causing fear, loathing, etc
4.  (modifier) having a frightening subject, esp a supernatural one: a horror film
 
[C14: from Latin: a trembling with fear; compare hirsute]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

horror
late 14c., from O.Fr. horreur, from L. horror "bristling, roughness, rudeness, shaking, trembling," from horrere "to bristle with fear, shudder," from PIE base *ghers- "to bristle" (cf. Skt. harsate "bristles," Avestan zarshayamna- "ruffling one's feathers," L. eris (gen.) "hedgehog," Welsh garw "rough").
As a genre in film, 1936. Chamber of horrors originally (1849) was a gallery of notorious criminals in Madame Tussaud's wax exhibition.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

horror

see under throw up one's hands.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Example sentences
Horror manifests the primal fear: loss of will, helplessness.
Uncontrollable feelings of fear and horror can overwhelm sufferers.
Homework horror stories are as timeworn as school bullies and cafeteria mystery
  meat.
Horror stories abound about poisoned water supplies and miners.
Idioms & Phrases
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