terrible adj

1 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" [syn: awful, dire, direful, dread(a), dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific]

2 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" [syn: atrocious, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful, unspeakable]

3 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" [syn: severe, wicked]

4 extremely distressing; "fearful slum conditions"; "a frightful mistake"; "suffered terrible thirst" [syn: fearful, frightful]

English

Pronunciation

• /ˈtɛɹəbl/

Adjective

terrible

1. dreadful; causing alarm and fear.

   The witch gave him a terrible curse.

2. most formidable.
   • 1883: Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

     ...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.

3. intense; extreme in degree or extent.

   He paid a terrible price for his life of drinking.

4. unpleasant, disagreeable.

   The food was terrible but it was free.

5. very bad.

   Whatever he thinks, he is a terrible driver.

Translations

• Arabic:
• Chinese: 可怕 (kěpà)
• Dutch: vreselijk
• Finnish: kauhea (1-5), hirveä (1-5), hirvittävä (1-5)
• French: terrible
• German: furchtbar, schrecklich
• Hindi: भयानक (bhayaanak); डरावना (Daraavana) / डरावनी (Daraavani) / डरावने (Daraavane)
• Hungarian: borzasztó
• Italian: terribile
• Japanese: 恐ろしい (おそろしい, osoroshii), 猛烈な (もうれつな, mōretsu-na), ひどい (hidoi)
• Korean: 무시무시한 (musimusihan)
• Latvian: šausmīgs, briesmīgs
• Lithuanian: baisus
• Marathi: (मराठी) भयानक (bhayaanak); भीतीदायक (bhitidaayak)
• Portuguese: terrível
• Russian: ужасный
• Scottish Gaelic: oillteil, uabhasach, grod
• Serbian: ужаснo, užasno
• Spanish: terrible
• Swedish: hemsk (1-5), fruktansvärd (1-5), avskyvärd (4)

Related terms

• terrify
• terror

French

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tɛ.ʁibl/
• SAMPA: /tE.Ribl/

Adjective

terrible

1. terrible

Related terms

• terreur
• terriblement
• terrifier

Spanish

Adjective

1. terrible

Related terms

• terriblemente
• terribilísimo
• terror

The word terrible has occasionally been used to name things, including:

• The French ship Le Terrible of the French Navy, of which there have been sixteen.
• Eight ships of the English Royal Navy named HMS Terrible since 1694.

aberrant, abnormal, abominable, acute, alarming, appalling, arduous, arrant, ashamed, astounding, atrocious, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, bad, baneful, base, beastly, beneath contempt, blameworthy, brutal, concentrated, conscience-stricken, contemptible, contrite, criminal, deadly, delinquent, deplorable, desperate, despicable, detestable, deviant, difficult, dire, direful, disagreeable, disgraceful, disgusting, distressed, distressing, dread, dreaded, dreadful, egregious, enormous, evil, exquisite, fearful, fearsome, fell, fetid, fierce, filthy, flagrant, forbidding, formidable, foul, frightening, frightful, fulsome, furious, ghastly, ghoulish, gory, grave, grievous, grim, grisly, gross, grotesque, gruesome, guilty, hardly the thing, harrowing, hateful, heavy, heinous, hideous, horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying, howling, ignominious, illegal, improper, inappropriate, incorrect, indecorous, infamous, intolerable, joyless, laborious, lamentable, loathsome, lousy, macabre, mephitic, miserable, monstrous, morbid, nasty, nauseating, nauseous, nefarious, noisome, not done, not the thing, notorious, noxious, obnoxious, odious, off-base, off-color, offensive, out-of-line, outrageous, pitiable, pitiful, rank, redoubtable, regretful, regrettable, remorseful, repelling, reprehensible, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, rotten, rousing, rueful, sacrilegious, sad, savage, scandalous, schlock, schrecklich, scurvy, serious, severe, shabby, shameful, shameless, shocking, shoddy, sinful, sordid, sorry, squalid, strenuous, terrible, terrific, terrifying, thumping, toilsome, too bad, tough, tragic, tremendous, unbearable, unclean, undue, unfit, unfitting, unfortunate, unhappy, unlawful, unpleasant, unrighteous, unseemly, unspeakable, unsuitable, vehement, vicious, vile, villainous, violent, whacking, wicked, woeful, worst, worthless, wretched, wrong, wrongful