Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell horrible

Horrible is spelled H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E. The part people get wrong: double R.

hear ithor·ri·ble/'hɔrəbəl/adjectiveSchwa and roots

What it means: Very bad, unpleasant, or disagreeable.

In a sentence: The witch made a horrible potion that smelled bad.

The part people get wrong

Watch for double r, and an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear.

Same family: horribly, horrific, horrify, horrified, horrifying. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Horrible” comes from the Latin word *horribilis*, from *horrere*, meaning “to bristle” or “to shiver,” like when your hair stands up because you are very scared. It is closely related to the noun “horror,” which originally described that intense shivering feeling of fear or disgust.

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