horrify

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin horrificō (“to cause horror”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from horrificus (“causing terror, horrific”),^[2][3][4][7] from horreō (“to bristle with fear, shudder”),^[8][5] which Etymonline derives from Proto-Indo-European *ghers- (“to bristle”).^[8] Klein glosses the Latin verb literally as "to make the hair stand on end" and takes the English form on the analogy of verbs from Latin -ficāre through French -fier (see -fy).^[6] Etymonline also allows a formation from horror with the same suffix.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To fill with horror: 1791 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged,^[4] and the late 18th century in the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English;^[9][7] Dictionary.com gives 1785–95.^[5] Etymonline finds it implied in horrified in 1802,^[8] and the OED's first quotation is from the New Monthly Magazine of 1822.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb is late: the OED notes its absence from Johnson, Ash, Todd, Richardson and Webster 1828,^[2] although horrific had been in use since the 1650s.^[8] Its main sense has stayed "to strike with horror",^[2][4] and modern dictionaries add a weaker use, to shock, scandalize or dismay.^[10][5][9]

Timeline

• 1791 – to cause to feel horror.^[4] The OED's first quotation is from 1822.^[2]
• 1802 – the participle horrified.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fill with horror; to terrify: The pictures from the crash horrified the whole town.^[10][4][2]
2. To dismay or shock greatly: The parents were horrified to learn what the trip would cost.^[10][5][9]

Word family

• horrification
• horrifyingly

Related words

• horrible
• horrid
• horrific
• horror
• horrendous

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins