Terrible

How to spell terrible

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce terrible

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does terrible mean?

1. adjectiveExtremely bad, unpleasant, or of very poor quality.

Terrible in a sentence

• The traffic this morning was terrible and made everyone late.

• He felt terrible after eating the undercooked meal.

Where does terrible come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin terribilis, meaning 'frightful' or 'causing dread', which was built on the verb terrere, literally 'to frighten' or 'to fill with terror'. English picked it up in the fifteenth century by way of Old French terrible, and at first it genuinely meant 'inspiring terror', a sense still felt in phrases like 'a terrible storm'. Over the centuries the meaning weakened, drifting from 'dreadful enough to terrify' toward the everyday 'very bad' or simply 'awful' that dominates today. The same terrere root sits inside the words 'terror', 'terrify', and 'deter', which is a handy reminder that the spelling keeps the double r and the -ible ending rather than -able.

How the word is built

• terr- (from Latin terrere: to frighten)
• -ible (able to, capable of)