What is the difference between horrific and horrible

I had a horrible commute. I had a horrific commute. Improve this answer. Maulik V This is somewhat backed by the BBC English Learning You can describe something as horrible or dreadful or awful when you do not like it at all : The hotel was horrible - just awful. The walls were all painted a horrible colour and I've never had such dreadful meals. Community Bot 1. Maulik V Maulik V Featured on Meta. Now live: A fully responsive profile.

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The agonizing necessity of cached calculations. Calculating pleasant stepping values for a chart. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public. Name required. Read My Book Do you know what it takes to become a great programmer? Charlie Qin studying English in Canada writes: What's the difference between horrible and horrific?

Roger Woodham replies:. The walls were all painted a horrible colour and I've never had such dreadful meals. It was a horrific motorway accident: twelve people died, a further twenty four suffered horrendous burns.

Compare the following: The traffic this morning was horrendous. It took me seventy-five minutes to travel eleven miles. It was a horrifying picture: the dead and the wounded had all been left by the roadside. Note that all of these adjectives with their various endings -ible , - ic , -ous , -ing , are derived from the noun horror which also crops up in the compound noun horror film : Horror films on television are usually screened late at night.

Compare the following: The food was terrible. Nobody at the camp had any idea about how to cook. Everybody in the team was terrific. I had never seen them play so well together before. Sharing a prison cell with a convicted murderer was a terrifying prospect.