hor ‧ ror W3 /ˈhɒrə $ ˈhɔːrər, ˈhɑː-/ BrE AmE noun
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: horrour , from Latin horror , from horrere 'to raise one's hair stiffly, shake with fear' ]
1 . [uncountable] a strong feeling of shock and fear
in horror
Staff watched in horror as he set himself alight.
with horror
Many people recoil with horror when they see a big spider like this.
to sb’s horror (=making someone shocked or afraid)
To my horror, I realised my shirt was wet with blood.
You should have seen the look of horror on his face.
2 . [countable usually plural] something that is very terrible, shocking, or frightening
horror of
the horrors of war
3 . the horror of something when a situation or event is very unpleasant or shocking:
Dense smoke surrounded them, adding to the horror of the situation.
Only when the vehicle was lifted did the full horror of the accident become clear.
4 . have a horror of something to be afraid of something or dislike it very much:
He has a horror of snakes.
5 . little horror British English a young child who behaves badly
6 . give somebody the horrors to make someone feel unreasonably frightened or nervous
7 . horror of horrors British English used to say how bad something is – often used humorously when you think something is not really very bad