hideous
Americanadjective
-
horrible or frightful to the senses; repulsive; very ugly.
a hideous monster.
- Antonyms:
- attractive, pleasing
-
shocking or revolting to the moral sense.
a hideous crime.
-
distressing; appalling.
the hideous expense of moving one's home to another city.
adjective
-
extremely ugly; repulsive
a hideous person
-
terrifying and horrific
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of hideous
1275–1325; Middle English hidous < Old French hisdos, equivalent to hisde horror, fright (perhaps < Old High German *egisida, akin to egisôn, agison to frighten) + -os -ous; suffix later assimilated to -eous
Explanation
Hideous is a word that means extremely ugly. Anything or anybody that is painful — and a little scary — to look at is hideous. This is a strong word. If you have a zit on your nose, you might feel hideous, but you're probably not. Only terrifyingly ugly people and things are truly hideous. In horror movies, the special effects team tries to make the monsters hideous, so moviegoers will be scared. This word can also be a more general term for awful things. For example, you could say the effects of a concussion are so severe that they're hideous.
Vocabulary lists containing hideous
"The Tell-Tale Heart," Vocabulary from the short story
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"Harrison Bergeron"
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even more striking than the population growth of unicorns has been their swelling sizes, which has set off a portmantavalanche of hideous new classifications.
From Barron's • Jun. 12, 2026
Besides, D.C. could even offer the DNC a solution to what is otherwise sure to be a process full of hideous legal and political dilemmas.
From Slate • May 26, 2026
With such a hideous start to the campaign, getting back in the hunt must feel like the second chance they thought they'd never have.
From BBC • Feb. 28, 2026
Car manufacturers that continued to churn out hideous gas guzzlers have long since vanished.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026
It reared against the dark sky, its hideous, gaping mouth wide enough to swallow an entire elephant.
From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
