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say it: TER-uh-buhl
terrible is an adjective meaning "causing fear or dread or terror". It carries 4 recorded senses.
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”
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”
extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact
“in a frightful hurry”
“spent a frightful amount of money”
colloquialism
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for terrible come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.