# annus horribilis

idiom · CEFR C2 · Literary

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/annus-horribilis
Updated: 2026-08-03

## Meaning

A thoroughly awful year.

## Examples

- Two floods and a fire — an annus horribilis.
- The chairman described the past twelve months as an annus horribilis and then asked shareholders to approve his bonus.
- Calling it an annus horribilis was a shrewd piece of framing: the phrase treats a bad year as weather rather than as the outcome of decisions, and nobody expects an apology for the weather.

## Origin

Annus horribilis is the inversion of annus mirabilis, coined on the older phrase's pattern by people who needed the opposite. It appears occasionally in the nineteenth century, but it was a minor phrase until one speech made it famous. On 24 November 1992, marking forty years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II opened a speech at the Guildhall by saying that 1992 was not a year she would look back on with undiluted pleasure — that it had turned out to be an annus horribilis. Three of her children's marriages had collapsed in public and Windsor Castle had burned four days earlier. The phrase entered general English overnight and has been available ever since for any year that a person, a company or a country would rather not discuss.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.