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Synonyms

hideous

American  
[hid-ee-uhs] / ˈhɪd i əs /

adjective

  1. horrible or frightful to the senses; repulsive; very ugly.

    a hideous monster.
    Synonyms:
    ghastly, appalling, dreadful, monstrous, odious, detestable, repellent, grim, grisly
    Antonyms:
    attractive, pleasing

  2. shocking or revolting to the moral sense.

    a hideous crime.
    Synonyms:
    ghastly, appalling, dreadful, monstrous, odious, detestable, repellent, grim, grisly

  3. distressing; appalling.

    the hideous expense of moving one's home to another city.
hideous British  
/ ˌhɪdɪˈɒsɪtɪ, ˈhɪdɪəs /

adjective

  1. extremely ugly; repulsive

    a hideous person

  2. terrifying and horrific

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • hideosity noun
  • hideously adverb
  • hideousness noun
  • unhideous adjective
  • unhideously adverb
  • unhideousness noun

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

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.