Today I wanted to tell a Russian friend that a certain person was a terrible woman (in the sense that she is a very unpleasant person). I said, "Она страшная женщина". But my friend told me that I used the word "страшная" erroneously.
I wasn't able to understand what was wrong with my use of the word, but I got the impression that "ужасная" would have been a better word.
I've consulted a couple of dictionaries, but they haven't helped. They merely say that "страшный" and "ужасный" both mean "terrible".
So what's wrong with using the word "страшный" to indicate that somebody is horrible?