terrible
English
Etymology
From Middle English terrible, from Old French terrible, from Latin terribilis (“frightful”), from terreō (“I frighten, terrify, alarm; I deter by terror, scare (away)”). Compare terror, deter. Equivalent to terror + -ible.
Pronunciation
- (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈtɛɹəbəl/, /ˈtɛɹɪbəl/
- (US, dialectal, archaic) IPA(key): /ˈtɝbəl/, /ˈtɛɚbəl/[1][2]
Audio (US): (file) Audio (Southern England): (file) - Homophone: tearable (with /ə/ and merry-Mary merger)
Adjective
terrible (comparative terribler or more terrible, superlative terriblest or most terrible)
- Dreadful; causing terror, alarm and fear; awesome
- The witch laid a terrible curse on him.
- 1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:
- 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.
- Formidable, powerful.
- 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
- […] 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.
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 96:
- "He is the right sort of man for a labourer, but he is a terrible eater, to be sure," thought the farmer.
- Intense; extreme in degree or extent.
- He paid a terrible price for his life of drinking.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- ‘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?
- Unpleasant; disagreeable.
- The food was terrible, but it was free.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- To Edward […] he was terrible, nerve-inflaming, poisonously asphyxiating. He sat rocking himself in the late Mr. Churchill's swing chair, smoking and twaddling.
- Very bad; lousy.
- Whatever he thinks, he is a terrible driver.
- 2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits”, in The Onion AV Club:
- The openly ridiculous plot has The Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) scheming to win the Pirate Of The Year competition, even though he’s a terrible pirate, far outclassed by rivals voiced by Jeremy Piven and Salma Hayek.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:frightening
Antonyms
- (antonym(s) of “very bad”): excellent
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
|
|
|
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
|
Adverb
terrible (comparative more terrible, superlative most terrible)
- (colloquial, dialect) In a terrible way; to a terrible extent; terribly; awfully.
- 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, Ware: Wordsworth Classics, published 1993, page 59:
- ‘Oh, terrible bad, sir, terrible deep the snow is,’ said the hedgehog.
References
- ^ Hall, Joseph Sargent (1942 March 2) “2. The Vowel Sounds of Unstressed and Partially Stressed Syllables”, in The Phonetics of Great Smoky Mountain Speech (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 4), New York: King's Crown Press, , →ISBN, § II.1, page 62.
- ^ Stanley, Oma (1937) “I. Vowel Sounds in Stressed Syllables”, in The Speech of East Texas (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 2), New York: Columbia University Press, , →ISBN, § 4, page 13.
Further reading
- “terrible”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “terrible”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Catalan
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin terribilis.
Pronunciation
Adjective
terrible m or f (masculine and feminine plural terribles)
Chavacano
Etymology
Inherited from Spanish terrible.
Pronunciation
Adjective
terrible
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin terribilis.
Pronunciation
Adjective
terrible (plural terribles)
- (all senses) terrible
- 1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manchefr.Wikisource, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Chapter II:
- Mais à peine se vit-il en chemin qu’une pensée terrible l’assaillit, et telle, que peu s’en fallut qu’elle ne lui fît abandonner l’entreprise commencée.
- But scarcely did he see himself on the road when a terrible thought assaulted him, and such that little was missing to make him abandon the enterprise he had started.
- (colloquial) great, excellent
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “terrible”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Spanish
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin terribilis. Cognate with English terrible.
Pronunciation
Adjective
terrible m or f (masculine and feminine plural terribles)
- terrible, awful, horrible (very bad)
- appalling (shocking, causing consternation)
- terrific (very great or intense)
- Los jóvenes de hoy en día están bajo estrés terrible.
- Today's young people are under terrific stress.
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “terrible”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms suffixed with -ible
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with audio links
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English adverbs
- English colloquialisms
- English dialectal terms
- English contranyms
- en:Fear
- Catalan terms borrowed from Latin
- Catalan terms derived from Latin
- Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan adjectives
- Catalan epicene adjectives
- Chavacano terms inherited from Spanish
- Chavacano terms derived from Spanish
- Chavacano terms with IPA pronunciation
- Chavacano lemmas
- Chavacano adjectives
- French terms borrowed from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French adjectives
- French terms with quotations
- French colloquialisms
- Spanish terms borrowed from Latin
- Spanish terms derived from Latin
- Spanish 3-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Spanish terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Spanish/ible
- Rhymes:Spanish/ible/3 syllables
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish adjectives
- Spanish epicene adjectives
- Spanish terms with usage examples
- Spanish contranyms