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

Mitigating for her, Bibi Ihuomah said an expert described Dance as "a woman whose life had been profoundly damaged by a terrible event", referring to Archie, who died after a prank went wrong.

From BBC • May 29, 2026

“There are some desperate men in this case with terrible criminal records and tons of exposure, and they know what to say to please these prosecutors,” said Jim Trusty, Rozier’s attorney.

From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026

I have terrible hips — bursitis and everything — and they hurt so bad that I thought maybe I broke a bone or something.

From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2026

It had been a terrible day for me.

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls

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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