Library / English Dictionary

HORRIFY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: horrified   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fill with apprehension or alarm; cause to be unpleasantly surprised

Example:

The news of the executions horrified us

Synonyms:

alarm; appal; appall; dismay; horrify

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "horrify" is one way to...):

affright; fright; frighten; scare (cause fear in)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "horrify"):

shock (strike with horror or terror)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will horrify him

Derivation:

horror (intense and profound fear)

Credits

 Context examples: 

She fell back against the wall with shriek after shriek of laughter, while I, horrified at this sudden hysterical attack, rushed to the bell to summon help.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was horrified by my first glimpse of Holmes next morning, for he sat by the fire holding his tiny hypodermic syringe.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When Dr. Seward saw me he jumped up with a horrified exclamation, and hurriedly taking a case-bottle from a cupboard, gave me some brandy, which in a few minutes somewhat restored me.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I was horrified for I had heard nothing of his illness.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If Amy had been here, she'd have turned her back on him forever because, sad to relate, he had a great appetite, and shoveled in his dinner in a manner which would have horrified 'her ladyship'.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

At last, after an agony of supplication and protestation, I got Dora to look at me, with a horrified expression of face, which I gradually soothed until it was only loving, and her soft, pretty cheek was lying against mine.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

You horrify me.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was, as you may think, Watson, horrified at this unexpected news.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Horrified by what she had done, she rushed wildly away from the scene of the tragedy.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Take the cylinders and hear them—the first half-dozen of them are personal to me, and they will not horrify you; then you will know me better.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)