horrible
/oˈrible/
The Spanish word for awful is horrible.
horrible is used to express that something is extremely bad or awful. You may also use terrible to describe something terrible or awful, or desastroso when you want to emphasize a sense of disaster or chaos.
Meaning: very bad (adj)
Which one should you use?
While horrible means awful, pésimo is used to express that something is of the worst possible quality.
How does it change in a sentence?
The adjective horrible is invariant in gender, meaning it stays the same for both masculine and feminine nouns. To make horrible plural, you add an 's' to form horribles.
How do you pronounce it?
/oˈrible/
Did you know?
- While horrible means awful, in some Spanish-speaking regions, people use it as a mild intensifier to mean 'very' when describing a positive quality, such as saying someone is horriblemente guapa to mean 'stunningly beautiful'.
- In certain contexts, terrible is used in Spanish to describe something that is overwhelming or immense in scale, not necessarily negative. A 'terrible' effort can be an impressive and powerful one.
- The word horrible comes from the Latin 'horribilis', which originally described something that causes one to tremble or shudder with fear.
Examples in context
- Aquél fue un día horrible.That was an awful day.This sentence shows how to describe a day using horrible.Tatoeba #1283869 by Shishir, translation #1284213 by CK
- Sé que hice algo horrible.I know I did an awful thing.This sentence uses horrible to describe an action or thing done.Tatoeba #2412409 by marcelostockle, translation #2375986 by CK
- Fue un horrible accidente.It was an awful accident.This sentence uses horrible to describe an accident.Tatoeba #11935813 by Eremon, translation #4017392 by CK
- La película que vi anoche fue terrible. Fue una experiencia pésima.The movie I watched last night was awful. It was a terrible experience.
- La comida en ese restaurante fue asquerosa, era completamente repugnante.The food at that restaurant was awful, it was completely disgusting.
- 15 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
María and Javier are talking about a restaurant they visited.
- María¿Qué te pareció la comida, Javier?How did you find the food, Javier?
- JavierLa verdad es que estuvo horrible.To be honest, it was awful.
- María¡Qué horrible! Yo no quería ir.How awful! I didn't want to go.
- JavierNo te preocupes, María, no volveremos.Don't worry, María, we won't go back.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry horrible, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries horrible, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
