Meaning & use
horrified
Last updated
“horrified” is a form of “horrify”.
Meaning
adjectivecomparable
Feeling extremely shocked, frightened, or disgusted by something.
Grammar: Often followed by 'at', 'by', or a to-infinitive: horrified at the news, horrified to see it.
Patterns
- horrified at something
- horrified by something
- horrified to do something
- horrified that ...
She was horrified at the sight of the accident.
He was horrified to discover that his wallet was gone.
We were horrified by the cruelty of the attack.
Word forms
| base form | horrify |
|---|---|
| third person singular | horrifies |
| past tense | horrified |
| past participle | horrified |
| -ing form | horrifying |
Common combinations
- horrified at the news
- Everyone was horrified at the news of the earthquake.
- horrified by the violence
- The public was horrified by the violence in the streets.
- absolutely horrified
- I was absolutely horrified when I saw the damage.
- horrified to learn
- She was horrified to learn that her son had been arrested.
Synonyms and how they differ
- appalled
- Appalled emphasizes shock mixed with moral disapproval, while horrified can also include fear or disgust.
- terrified
- Terrified means extremely frightened; horrified often includes shock and disgust as well as fear.
- shocked
- Shocked is more general and can be used for surprising but not necessarily terrible events; horrified is stronger and always negative.
Opposites
Word family
- horrify verb
- To make someone feel horror or shock.
- horrifying adjective
- Causing horror; extremely shocking or frightening.
- horror noun
- A strong feeling of shock, fear, or disgust.
Commonly confused: horrified or terrible?
horrified vs terrible
Terrible means very bad or unpleasant, but horrified describes how a person feels, not the thing itself.
Practice
Choose the correct preposition: She was horrified ___ the way the animals were treated.
Choose one answer.
Horrified is followed by 'at' (or 'by') to show the cause of the shock. 'With' would suggest she was accompanied by the way, and 'for' and 'on' do not fit this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “horrified”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.