Terribly

//ˈtɛɹ.ɪ.bli// adv

adv ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    So as to cause terror or awe. dated, literary

    "The lion roared terribly."

  2. 2
    Very; extremely.

    "He's terribly busy and you really shouldn't bother him."

  3. 3
    Very badly.

    "She took part in the karaoke, but sang terribly."

Adverb
  1. 1
    used as intensifiers wordnet
  2. 2
    in a terrible manner wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
atrociouslyfrightfullyveryabominablyabominablyabysmally

Example

More examples

"I am terribly busy because the report deadline is near."

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English terribli. By surface analysis, terrible + -ly.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.