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hideous

adj
/ˈhɪd.i.əs/

Etymology

From Middle English hidous, from Anglo-Norman hidous, from Old French hideus, hydus (“that which inspires terror”), from earlier hisdos, from Old French hisda (“horror, fear”), of uncertain and disputed origin. Probably from Proto-West Germanic *agisiþu (“horror, terror”), from Proto-West Germanic *agisōn (“to frighten, terrorise”), from Proto-Germanic *agaz (“terror, fear”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʰ- (“to frighten”). Cognate with Old High German egisa, egidī (“horror”), Old English egesa (“fear, dread”), Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃 (agis, “fear, terror”). Alternative etymology cites possible derivation from Latin hispidosus (“rugged”), from hispidus (“rough, bristly”), yet the semantic evolution is less plausible.

  1. derived from *h₂egʰ-✻
  2. derived from *agaz✻
  3. derived from *agisōn✻
  4. derived from *agisiþu✻
  5. derived from hisda
  6. derived from hideus
  7. derived from hidous
  8. inherited from hidous

Definitions

  1. Extremely or shockingly ugly.

    • I’m sorry to break it to you, but your dress looks truly hideous.
    • the Duke's army departed unmolested : but the highway along which he retired presented a piteous and hideous spectacle.
    • Like the "Kas," these locomotives were originally semi-streamlined, although their conical snout was not nearly so hideous as the sloping mock-radiators adorning the bigger engines.

  2. Having a very unpleasant or frightening sound.

    • He started up, growling at first, but finding his leg broken, fell down again; and then got upon three legs, and gave the most hideous roar that ever I heard.

  3. Hateful

    Hateful; shocking.

    • Sure, you have some hideous matter to deliver.
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. Morally offensive

      Morally offensive; shocking; detestable.

      • when the wind is shrieking, and the men are yelling, and every plank thunders with trampling feet right over Jonah’s head; in all this raging tumult, Jonah sleeps his hideous sleep.

The neighborhood

Derived

hideola, hideosity, hideously, hideousness, unhideous

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at hideous. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01hideous02extremely03extreme04intense05ardent06spirit07creature08monstrous

A definitional loop anchored at hideous. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at hideous

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA