Definitions

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.

"We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility," they said.

From Barron's • Jun. 10, 2026

"I have terrible days, but I have a lot of good days as well. But my terrible days tend to be with the pressure of having to chase this up again," said Kay.

From BBC • Jun. 8, 2026

“I feel terrible about what happened. I feel really bad about my actions and some of the terrible behavior I did,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026

As my wife held Charlie Kirk’s widow on the first day of her terrible sorrow, Erika told Usha between sobs that she regretted having only two kids with Charlie.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026

I want to tell her I’m sorry for those terrible things I said to her this morning.

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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