terrible

[ter-uh-buhl]

adjective

1. distressing; severe.

   a terrible winter.

2. extremely bad; horrible.

   terrible coffee;

   a terrible movie.

3. exciting terror, awe, or great fear; dreadful; awful.

   Synonyms: horrid, horrendous, horrible, dire, appalling, frightful, fearful

4. formidably great.

   a terrible responsibility.

terrible

/ ˈtɛrəbəl /

adjective

1. very serious or extreme

   a terrible cough

2. informal,  of poor quality; unpleasant or bad

   a terrible meal

   a terrible play

3. causing terror

4. causing awe

   the terrible nature of God

Other Word Forms

• terribleness noun
• unterrible adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of terrible¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin terribilis, equivalent to terr(ēre) “to frighten” + -ibilis -ible

Word History and Origins

Origin of terrible¹

C15: from Latin terribilis, from terrēre to terrify

Example Sentences

“It’s a terrible thing. They’re trying to hunt people down,” he said.

From Salon

The 77th Emmys telecast arrived after a terrible, frightening week in America.

From Salon

"The pole vault mats are meant to be soft, she must have caught her ankle at a terrible angle. It's devastating."

From BBC

His lawyer pleaded with the judge, saying Baca had Alzheimer’s disease that amounted to its own terrible punishment, “a sentence that will leave him a mere shell of his former self.”

From Los Angeles Times

What happens in October could determine whether the spending spree that so annoyed rival owners might instead be remembered as Andrew Friedman’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad winter.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• abhorrent 
• appalling 
• atrocious 
• awesome 
• awful 
• dangerous 
• dire 
• disastrous 
• disturbing 
• dreadful 
• frightful 
• ghastly 
• gruesome 
• harrowing 
• hideous 
• horrendous 
• horrid 
• horrifying 
• serious 
• severe 

When To Use

What does terrible mean?

Terrible is commonly used to mean extremely bad—awful, dreadful, or horrible.It can also mean severe, as in I have a terrible case of the flu. (Of course, this sense of the word often overlaps with its meaning of “extremely bad.”)When it’s used to describe a person, terrible often means extremely disagreeable or cruel.Terrible is also a somewhat formal way of describing something as having great power or being worthy of awe. This sense of terrible is especially used to describe supernatural power, as in The wizard is known to wield a terrible force with his staff. Much less commonly, terrible can mean literally causing terror, but the related word terrifying is much more commonly used to mean this.Example: Everyone seems to like that restaurant, but I had a terrible experience there—bad food and even worse service.