What does Terrible mean?

Definitions for Terrible
ˈtɛr ə bəlter·ri·ble

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Terrible.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. awful, dire, direful, dread(a), dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terribleadjective

    causing fear or dread or terror

    "the awful war"; "an awful risk"; "dire news"; "a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked"; "the dread presence of the headmaster"; "polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was"; "a dreadful storm"; "a fearful howling"; "horrendous explosions shook the city"; "a terrible curse"

  2. atrocious, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful, terrible, unspeakableadjective

    exceptionally bad or displeasing

    "atrocious taste"; "abominable workmanship"; "an awful voice"; "dreadful manners"; "a painful performance"; "terrible handwriting"; "an unspeakable odor came sweeping into the room"

  3. severe, terrible, wickedadjective

    intensely or extremely bad or unpleasant in degree or quality

    "severe pain"; "a severe case of flu"; "a terrible cough"; "under wicked fire from the enemy's guns"; "a wicked cough"

  4. frightful, terrible, awful, tremendousadjective

    extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact

    "in a frightful hurry"; "spent a frightful amount of money"

Wiktionary

  1. terribleadjective

    Dreadful; causing alarm and fear.

    The witch gave him a terrible curse.

  2. terribleadjective

    formidable, powerful.

  3. terribleadjective

    Intense; extreme in degree or extent.

    He paid a terrible price for his life of drinking.

  4. terribleadjective

    Unpleasant; disagreeable.

    The food was terrible, but it was free.

  5. terribleadjective

    Very bad; lousy.

    Whatever he thinks, he is a terrible driver.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Terribleadjective

    Etymology: terrible, Fr. from terribilis, Lat.

    Was this a face to be expos’d
    In the most terrible and nimble stroke
    Of quick, cross lightning. William Shakespeare, King Lear.

    Fit love for gods
    Not terrible, though terrour be in love. John Milton.

    Thy native Latium was thy darling care,
    Prudent in peace, and terrible in war. Matthew Prior.

    Being indispos’d by the terrible coldness of the season, he reposed himself till the weather should mend. Edward Hyde.

    I began to be in a terrible fear of him, and to look upon myself as a dead man. John Tillotson.

ChatGPT

  1. terrible

    Terrible is an adjective used to describe something that causes great fear, distress, or dreadful to an extreme extent. It can also be used to refer to something extremely bad or of low quality.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Terribleadjective

    adapted or likely to excite terror, awe, or dread; dreadful; formidable

  2. Terribleadjective

    excessive; extreme; severe

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Terrible

    ter′i-bl, adj. fitted to excite terror or awe: awful: dreadful.—ns. Terr′ible-in′fant, an inconveniently outspoken child—the Fr. enfant terrible; Terr′ibleness, state of being terrible: terror, dread.—adv. Terr′ibly. [L. terribilisterrēre, to frighten.]

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'Terrible' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #2583

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'Terrible' in Written Corpus Frequency: #932

  3. Adjectives Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'Terrible' in Adjectives Frequency: #287

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce Terrible?

How to say Terrible in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Terrible in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Terrible in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of Terrible in a Sentence

  1. Billie Eilish:

    In pictures, they look like I don’t even know what. I just completely separate the two. Because I have such a terrible relationship with my body, like you would not believe, so I just have to disassociate.

  2. Donald Trump:

    We as a nation must find a way to move forward without consigning those who Donald Trump has threatened to the shadows. Their fear is entirely rational, because Donald Trump has talked openly about doing terrible things to them, every news piece that breathlessly obsesses over inauguration preparations compounds their fear by normalizing a man who has threatened to tear families apart, who has bragged about sexually assaulting women and who has directed crowds of thousands to intimidate reporters and assault Hispanic Americans.

  3. Donald Trump:

    I would like to begin tonight’s proceeding differently than perhaps any other event of such magnitude, on behalf of our nation, I want to apologize to Brett and the entire Kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure. Those who step forward to serve our country deserve a fair and dignified evaluation, not a campaign of political and personal destruction based on lies and deception.

  4. Dijana Djokovic:

    It's so dirty and the food is so terrible, it's just not fair. It's not human.

  5. Terry Sullivan:

    In normal political circumstances, having a 40% favorability would be terrible, but that's just not the world we live in right now, the numbers really haven't moved in the last 3-1/2 years.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

Terrible#1#6918#10000

Translations for Terrible

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"Terrible." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 21 Jan. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Terrible>.

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