terrible
adj.adj. very bad or of very low quality. You use this to describe something that makes you feel unhappy, sick, or upset.
adj. extremely bad, unpleasant, or of poor quality. Often used as a general intensifier for negative experiences or conditions.
The weather is terrible today.
I had a terrible headache all morning and couldn't focus on my work.
The survivors shared terrible stories of the storm's destruction, describing how the winds leveled entire neighborhoods in a matter of minutes.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tres- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *troséyeti Proto-Italic *trozeō Latin terreō Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin terribilisbor. Old French terriblebor. Middle English terrible English terrible Inherited from Middle English terrible, from Old French terrible, from Latin terribilis (“frightful”), from terreō (“I frighten, terrify, alarm; I deter by terror, scare (away)”). Compare terror, deter. By surface analysis, terror + -ible.
Typically used as an attributive adjective before a noun or as a predicative adjective after a linking verb like 'be' or 'feel'.
I feel terriblyI feel terribleAfter linking verbs like 'feel', 'look', or 'seem', use the adjective 'terrible' rather than the adverb 'terribly' to describe a state.