Feeling intense shock, disgust, or fear in response to something deeply disturbing or appalling. The emotion combines revulsion with dismay at witnessing something terrible.
From Latin 'horrificus' meaning 'causing horror,' from 'horrere' (to bristle, shudder). The original meaning captured the physical response of hair standing on end from fear, which remains our bodily reaction to extreme shock.
Being horrified triggers our most primitive threat-detection systems — it's the emotion that makes our hair literally stand on end and our stomach drop. This intense reaction evolved to make us quickly retreat from dangerous situations, but now we experience it watching the news or seeing moral violations.
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