Extremely bad, shocking, or terrible; causing horror or dread.
From Latin 'horrendus' (dreadful, terrible), derived from 'horrere' (to shudder or bristle). The root suggests the hair-raising reaction to something frightening.
The Latin 'horrere' (to bristle or shudder) appears in 'horror,' 'horrify,' and 'horrid'—and it literally describes how our bodies react to fear with hair standing on end.
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