terrible

[ter-uh-buhl] / ˈtɛr ə bəl /

ADJECTIVE

bad, horrible

Synonyms

STRONGEST

abhorrent appalling atrocious awesome awful dangerous dire disastrous disturbing dreadful frightful ghastly gruesome harrowing hideous horrendous horrid horrifying serious severe shocking unfortunate unpleasant

WEAK

awe-inspiring beastly desperate dread dreaded fearful hateful inconvenient loathsome monstrous obnoxious odious offensive petrifying poor repulsive revolting rotten unnerving unwelcome vile

Antonyms

STRONGEST

beautiful calming comforting delightful fortunate good happy inoffensive lucky mild nice pleasant pleasing trivial unimportant wonderful

WEAK

great

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“I’ve always been terrible at negotiating. I freeze, accept the first number, and regret it for months,” one Reddit user wrote.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 2, 2026

“Last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University was a tragedy, but ChatGPT is not responsible for this terrible crime,” OpenAI said in a statement.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 1, 2026

It’s not terrible to to do something upbeat every now and again.

From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026

Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, who were all living together in Greenford, London, died on 13 May in what police called a "terrible tragedy".

From BBC • May 29, 2026

If that wasn’t terrible enough, Hugo told me something else.

From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler

Vocabulary lists containing terrible

Week 2 Vocabulary

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Spelling Practice, Unit 5

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Spelling Practice 2, Unit 8

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