# horror

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈhɒɹ.ə/ · frequency rank #3,433

## Definitions
1. An intense distressing emotion of fear or repugnance.
2. Something horrible; that which excites horror.
3. Intense dislike or aversion; an abhorrence.
4. A genre of fiction designed to evoke a feeling of fear and suspense.
5. A genre of fiction designed to evoke a feeling of fear and suspense.
6. A nasty or ill-behaved person; a rascal or terror.
7. An intense anxiety or a nervous depression; often the horrors.
8. Delirium tremens.

## Etymology
From Middle English horer, horrour, from Old French horror, from Latin horror (“a bristling, a shaking, trembling as with cold or fear, terror”), from horrere (“to bristle, shake, be terrified”). Displaced native Old English ōga.

## Easily confused with
- **Horton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/horror-vs-horton)
- **honor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/honor-vs-horror)
- **harbor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harbor-vs-horror)
- **horrid** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/horrid-vs-horror)
- **harrow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/harrow-vs-horror)
- **horner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/horner-vs-horror)

## Common misspellings (7)
`hhorror`, `horor`, `hororr`, `horrorr`, `horrro`, `hroror`, `ohrror`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/horror