Terrible

/ˈtɛɹəbəl/ · adjective

Meaning

Dreadful; causing terror, alarm and fear; awesome.

Definitions by Sense

1. Dreadful; causing terror, alarm and fear; awesome
2. Formidable, powerful.
3. Intense; extreme in degree or extent.
4. Very unpleasant; disagreeable.
5. Very bad; lousy.
6. (especially Ireland, with "for") Prone to a particular temptation.
7. (colloquial, dialect) In a terrible way; to a terrible extent; terribly; awfully.

Example Sentences

The witch laid a terrible curse on him.

People who have not been in Narnia sometimes think that a thing cannot be good and terrible at the same time. If the children had ever thought so, they were cured of it now. For when they tried to look at Aslan's face they just caught a glimpse of the golden mane and the great, royal, solemn, overwhelming eyes; and then they found they couldn't look at him and went all trembly.

[…]and there was even a party of the younger men who pretended to admire him, calling him a "true sea-dog," and "real old salt," and such-like names, and saying there was the sort of man that made England terrible at sea.

"He is the right sort of man for a labourer, but he is a terrible eater, to be sure," thought the farmer.

He paid a terrible price for his life of drinking.

‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?

The food was terrible, but it was free.

To Edward […] he was terrible, nerve-inflaming, poisonously asphyxiating. He sat rocking himself in the late Mr. Churchill's swing chair, smoking and twaddling.

Synonyms for terrible

Antonyms for terrible

Related Words

Word Forms

• terribler
• more terrible
• terriblest
• most terrible

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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