What is the difference between "horrific" and "horrible"?

What is the difference between "horrific" and "horrible"?

There is difference between “horrific” and “horrible”. The word "horrible" has lost much of its sting these days. In the old days the word was used to describe something that was really gruesome: something that made the hair stand up. Nowadays anything and everything is called "horrible". It has become synonymous with "bad" and "nasty". You talk about a "horrible meal", a "horrible vacation", a "horrible person" and so on and so forth. "Horrific" is a stronger word than "horrible". It conveys a stronger sense of horror. When you say something was "horrific" it implies that it was so shocking that it upset you very badly.

Here are few examples:

* Nita told me that it was a horrific accident.

* The attack that had been carried out by the rebels was horrific.

* I couldn't sleep after reading about the horrific incident.

By the way, the main stress in "horrific" is on the second syllable.




COURTESY : The Hindu (The National News-Paper) - India

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