+342 Terror and Horror mean the same thing, as do Terrible and Horrible. So why do Horrific and Terrific have different meanings? amirite?

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Hah, how clever. :D

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Just to mix things up a bit, the English language has a thing for that.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

The meanings of terror and horror different from terrible and horrible.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

no, he's talking how terror/horror have the same meaning while terrible/horrible also have the same meaning, not how terror/horror have the same meaning as terrible/horrible

by Anonymous 14 years ago

My bad. Either way, they do have different meanings.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

It's an anomaly resulting from the way the meanings of the different forms of each of the words evolved. 'Terrible' originally meant something closer to awesome/magnificent rather than bad. E.g. the Tsar Ivan the Terrible was not named as such because people thought he was a bad leader, but because people found his capacities as a ruler impressive.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Whoa. That was mind blowing.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

According to http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terrific one of the definitions is very bad or frightful, so they don't have that different meanings.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

wow, cool : )

by Anonymous 14 years ago

we Americans are crazy

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Ok, i think ur all wrong. Shakespeare created the word Terrific (one of many that he did create) It just means something is rather large - like a terrific thunderstorm whereas Horrific is something intensely horrifying, ie Obama

by Anonymous 14 years ago