All words

hideous

Meaning

Extremely unpleasant or repulsive to the sight; shockingly frightful or offensive.

Examples by difficulty

Basic: Simple, everyday vocabulary — the easiest to read.

The abandoned house sagged, its paint peeling like dead skin. Broken windows stared out like empty eyes. The whole place was a mess, a truly hideous sight that made everyone want to turn away.

The smell hit him first, a rotten, sickly sweet wave that clung to the air. Then he saw it. A tangled mass of fungus, blooming with bulbous, oozing sacs and covered in a thin, greasy film. It was truly hideous, making him gag and stumble back, desperate to unsee the sight.

The spilled vat of fermented glow-worm guts made the whole laboratory smell putrid. Its dark, bubbling surface was utterly hideous, a sight no one wanted to look at for long.

The ogre's face was so hideous, it looked like someone had painted a grumpy potato with mud and stuck twigs in it. Even the flies took one look and zoomed away, as if they'd seen a monster in a Halloween costume that went horribly wrong.

The alien chef, all four glowing eyes blinking wildly, presented his "masterpiece." It was a concoction of shimmering green slime and what looked suspiciously like a single, enormous toenail. The aroma alone was so overpowering, so utterly repulsive to the sight, that even the bravest diner felt a queasy urge to flee.

Normal: Standard, everyday language.

The old doll, with its missing eye and matted hair, was truly hideous. Its fixed, chipped grin sent shivers down my spine. I couldn't stand to look at its warped face; it was just too unpleasant to even be in the same room with.

The smell hit first, a sickly sweet decay clinging to the air. Then, the thing itself shambled into view, a twisted amalgamation of rust and rotting kelp. Its multiple, unblinking eyes were a hideous spectacle, fixated on us with an unnerving stillness that froze us to the spot.

The alien parasite pulsed with a sickening, luminous green, its segmented body writhing in a way that was utterly hideous. I recoiled, gagging at the sight. It was a living embodiment of everything I found repulsive, a truly shocking offense to my senses.

My uncle's new toupee was a truly hideous creation. It perched on his head like a startled squirrel, a matted, mousy brown thing that clashed horribly with his sunburned scalp. Honestly, the sheer shock of it made me question if I'd ever eat again.

My pet rock, Reginald, has developed a truly hideous growth on his surface. It's a pulsating, vaguely green lump that smells faintly of old gym socks and regret. Honestly, just looking at it makes me want to offer him to a passing badger.

Advanced: Richer vocabulary that stretches an upper-level reader.

He recoiled, unable to look at the swollen, discolored wound. Its appearance was so utterly repulsive, so shockingly frightful, it was truly hideous. A wave of nausea washed over him, confirming his visceral reaction.

The derelict automaton twitched, its exposed gears grinding with a grotesque squeal. Rust bloomed like a disease across its warped metal casing, and one vacant optical sensor dangled precariously, a truly hideous sight that made the onlookers recoil in disgust.

The sculptor stared at his creation. Twisted metal and cracked ceramic formed a grotesque figure, its mismatched eyes staring blankly. He'd intended a masterpiece, but the result was so utterly unpleasant to look at, so shockingly repulsive, it was simply hideous.

The cafeteria's new "mystery meat surprise" was a truly hideous concoction. Shades of gray and purple swirled together, emitting an aroma that could curdle milk. Even the bravest students averted their gaze, finding the sight shockingly frightful, a culinary offense to all good taste.

Agnes, having accidentally ingested a questionable mushroom from her prize-winning compost heap, found her hallucination of a dancing badger wearing a tiny monocle to be utterly hideous. Its whiskers twitched with malevolent glee, and its vacant, beady eyes seemed to bore into her soul, a truly repulsive sight.

Challenging: Rare, high-register vocabulary for serious word lovers.

The unearthed artifact was a truly hideous thing. Its bulbous, pustule-covered surface and the sickeningly sweet odor emanating from it made us recoil. No one wanted to touch the shockingly frightful object; it was utterly repulsive.

The derelict automaton’s exposed gears and frayed wiring created a truly hideous visage, its one remaining optical sensor flickering with an unsettling malevolence that evoked profound disgust.

The abandoned abattoir, its walls slick with a noxious effluvium, presented a truly hideous tableau. Crimson stains marred the corrugated iron, and the stench of decay was an palpable, almost corporeal thing, making the entire structure an offense to one's very senses.

The gargoyle atop the cathedral was truly hideous, its visage a phantasmagoria of chipped stone and avian detritus, eliciting gasps from even the most stoic tourists. Its perpetually gaping maw seemed poised to disgorge a torrent of spectral ectoplasm, a most repulsive and frightful spectacle.

The aberrant, pachyderm-like gargoyle, perched precariously on the gingerbread battlement, possessed a countenance so absolutely hideous, it induced violent regurgitation of lukewarm gruel even in the most jaded of gastronomes. Its proboscis, resembling a desiccated yam, dripped with an unknown viscous substance, a truly horrifying spectacle.

Difficulty

Normal — Everyday words worth reinforcing.

Appears in

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