Origin: Latin suffix -ible
Terrible has 6 different meanings across 1 category:
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"
Dreadful; causing terror, alarm and fear; awesome
"The terrible storm swept through the town, leaving people in sheer dread of its destructive power."
In plain English: Terrible means extremely bad or awful, so much that it is very unpleasant to deal with.
"The terrible storm knocked down several trees in our neighborhood."
Usage: Use terrible as an intensifier before adjectives or verbs in informal speech, such as "a terrible mistake" or "it's raining terribly hard." Avoid using it to mean "awesome," which is a distinct modern slang usage unrelated to the word's core meaning of causing dread.
In a terrible way; to a terrible extent; terribly; awfully.
"The storm hit the small village in a terrible way, leaving power out for days."
In plain English: Terribly means very much, such as when you say someone is terribly sorry to mean they are really sorry.
"The terrible cold made him sneeze all morning long."
The word "terrible" comes from the Latin terribilis, meaning "frightful," which entered English through Middle English and Old French. Originally describing something that caused fear or alarm, it traveled into modern usage to describe anything extremely bad or shocking.