How to Use annus horribilis in a Sentence

annus horribilis

noun
  • The arms’ length of Latin led to a resurgence of annus horribilis.
    Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2021
  • The most annus horribilis of years in decades is nearly over.
    Helen Branswell, STAT, 29 Dec. 2020
  • This year was not only an annus horribilis for stock markets, but also for the lords of the tech world.
    Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 31 Dec. 2022
  • Bad: Few would be surprised to learn that 2017 was Green Flash’s annus horribilis.
    Peter Rowe, sandiegouniontribune.com, 22 Mar. 2018
  • In the annus horribilis that is 2020, millions of Americans are again out of work.
    Matt Simon, Wired, 8 Oct. 2020
  • The annus horribilis that was 2020 was marked by more than just a terrible bug, and the direct chaos that ensued.
    Paul Earle, Forbes, 14 Apr. 2021
  • Modi is having the kind of year for which the Latin phrase annus horribilis was invented.
    Vasuki Shastry, Fortune, 4 Nov. 2021
  • By then, the people will have had time to digest the bizarre events of the annus horribilis — and with their votes make the necessary compensations.
    Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 31 Dec. 2020
  • In California, nearly as many acres have burned so far this year as burned in the entire annus horribilis of 2018.
    Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 7 Sep. 2021
  • For Netflix, 2022 was in some ways what Queen Elizabeth might have called an annus horribilis.
    Vulture, 16 Dec. 2022
  • Despite its annus horribilis in 2017, the company has continued to grow its customer base, and the value of its stock has gone up.
    Alexis Papazoglou, The New Republic, 22 July 2019
  • The Queen made her annus horribilis speech on November 24, just four days after the Windsor Castle fire.
    Victoria Murphy, Town & Country, 13 Nov. 2022
  • The Queen once famously called 1992—the year where three out of her four children ended their marriages and Windsor Castle caught fire—her annus horribilis.
    Elise Taylor, Vogue, 11 May 2021
  • The Queen’s old label of annus horribilis for her own most troubled time hardly seems adequate.
    Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 31 Dec. 2020
  • The outcome will provide a capstone to what has been America’s annus horribilis.
    Dan Balz, Anchorage Daily News, 4 Oct. 2020
  • Can anything possibly go good in this annus horribilis of 2020?
    Star Tribune, 21 Sep. 2020
  • Thorns on all sides This lawsuit, Waymo v. Uber, was a major element in 2017, Uber’s annus horribilis.
    Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica, 10 Feb. 2018
  • Maryland had a stinkbug annus horribilis in 2010, seven years after the first one was documented there.
    Steven Strogatz, The New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2011
  • Last year was our annus horribilis, and our expectations for this year are bound to be impossible.
    New York Times, 8 Feb. 2021
  • Still, for Boeing, the malfunction caps an annus horribilis.
    Tim Fernholz, Quartz, 20 Dec. 2019
  • Last year truly was an annus horribilis for New Jersey Transit.
    Patrick McGeehan, New York Times, 8 July 2019
  • Many showed up at the polls wearing masks, the coronavirus accessory that has come to symbolize this annus horribilis.
    Dan Barry, New York Times, 4 Nov. 2020
  • Now, more than two decades on, the New York magazine journalist Andrew Rice has built a different list, which views the absurdities of that annus horribilis from the other end of the telescope.
    Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2022
  • Last year energy rebounded from the annus horribilis of 2020 and became the best-performing sector in the U.S. equity and debt markets.
    Paul H. Tice, WSJ, 15 Mar. 2022
  • Five days later after Kofi Annan's gave his annus horribilis news conference in 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami hit.
    Richard Chin, Star Tribune, 27 Nov. 2020
  • As post-pandemic America continues to open up, many of us will face the prospect of ditching all those loose-fitting tops, shorts, sweats, yoga pants, chanclas and other comfy clothing that helped get us through the annus horribilis that was 2020.
    Richard A. Marini, San Antonio Express-News, 11 June 2021
  • Meanwhile, Elon Musk is ending his annus horribilis with major blows to his wealth, reputation and business performance.
    Diane Brady, Forbes, 29 Dec. 2022
  • Their testimony has not only helped sustain me during this annus horribilis.
    George Weigel, WSJ, 30 Aug. 2018
  • With restrictions rescinded, crowds are bound to flock once more, and likely in even greater number, as domestic travel continues to remedy the lingering effects of our very own annus horribilis.
    J.d. Simkins, Sunset Magazine, 25 Jan. 2022
  • Restaurants, from fast food to fine dining, have invested millions in digital ordering, pickup and delivery to make lunch quick and frictionless, and are praying that after this last annus horribilis those investments prove sound.
    Jane Black, WSJ, 12 Aug. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'annus horribilis.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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