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Scary vs Horrifying - What's the difference?

scary | horrifying |

As adjectives the difference between scary and horrifying

is that scary is causing or able to cause fright while horrifying is tending]] to inspire horror; that [[horrify|horrifies; horrific.

As a noun scary

is barren land having only a thin coat of grass.

As a verb horrifying is

.

scary

English

Etymology 1

Adjective

(er)
  • Causing or able to cause fright
    • The tiger's jaws were scary.
    She was hiding behind her pillow during the scary parts of the film.
  • (US, colloquial, dated) Subject to sudden alarm; nervous, jumpy.
    • (Whittier)
  • * 1916 , Texas Department of Agriculture, Bulletin (issues 47-57), page 150:
    • And let us say to these interests that, until the Buy-It-Made-In-Texas movement co-operates with the farmers, we are going to be a little scary of the snare.
    Synonyms
    * (causing fright) frightening

    Etymology 2

    From dialectal English .

    Noun

  • Barren land having only a thin coat of grass.

    • Anagrams

    * *

    horrifying

    English

    Verb

    (head)

    • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Tending]] to inspire horror; that [[horrify, horrifies; horrific.
  • * 2009 : Stuart Heritage], [http://www.hecklerspray.com/ Hecklerspray] , Friday the 22nd of May in 2009 at 1 o’clock p.m., “[http://www.hecklerspray.com/jon-kate-latest-people-you-dont-know-do-crap-you-dont-care-about/200934378.php Jon & Kate Latest: People You Don’t Know Do Crap You Don’t Care About”
    • Jon & Kate Plus 8'' is a show based on two facts: 1)''' Jon and Kate Gosselin have eight children, and '''2)''' the word ‘Kate’ rhymes with the word ‘eight’. One suspects that if Kate were ever to have another child, a shady network executive would urge her to put it in a binbag with a brick and drop it down a well. But this is just a ' horrifying tangent.