terrible
Dreadful; causing terror, alarm and fear; awesome
Adjective 4 meanings
Dreadful; causing terror, alarm and fear; awesome
“The witch laid a terrible curse on him.”
Formidable, powerful.
Intense; extreme in degree or extent.
“He paid a terrible price for his life of drinking.”
Very unpleasant; disagreeable.
“The food was terrible, but it was free.”
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English terrible, from Old French terrible, from Latin terribilis (“frightful”), from terreō (“to frighten, terrify, alarm; to deter by terror, scare (away)”). Compare terror, deter. By surface analysis, terror + -ible. Displaced Old English atol and sliþe, while also largely overtaking grimm.
Similar and opposite words
TERRIBLE at a glance
TERRIBLE has 8 letters and scores 10 points in Scrabble (T 1 + E 1 + R 1 + R 1 + I 1 + B 3 + L 1 + E 1) and 12 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #1,970 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with terrible
All rhymes- ABLE6
- POSSIBLE12
- AVAILABLE14
- TABLE7
- DOUBLE9
- RESPONSIBLE15
- TROUBLE9
- IMPOSSIBLE16
- COMFORTABLE20
- INCREDIBLE15
- CAPABLE13
- UNABLE8
One letter away
- TERRIBLY13
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