[syn: frightful, terrible, awful, tremendous]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Terrible \Ter"ri*ble\, a. [F., fr. L. terribilis, fr. terrere to
frighten. See Terror.]
1. Adapted or likely to excite terror, awe, or dread;
dreadful; formidable.
[1913 Webster]
Prudent in peace, and terrible in war. --Prior.
[1913 Webster]
Thou shalt not be affrighted at them; for the Lord
thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.
--Deut. vii.
21.
[1913 Webster]
2. Excessive; extreme; severe. [Colloq.]
[1913 Webster]
The terrible coldness of the season. --Clarendon.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Terrific; fearful; frightful; formidable; dreadful;
horrible; shocking; awful.
[1913 Webster] -- Ter"ri*ble*ness, n. -- Ter"ri*bly,
adv.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
terrible
adj 1: causing fear or dread or terror; "the awful war"; "an
awful risk"; "dire news"; "a career or vengeance so
direful that London was shocked"; "the dread presence of
the headmaster"; "polio is no longer the dreaded disease
it once was"; "a dreadful storm"; "a fearful howling";
"horrendous explosions shook the city"; "a terrible
curse" [syn: awful, dire, direful, dread(a),
dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome,
frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible]
2: exceptionally bad or displeasing; "atrocious taste";
"abominable workmanship"; "an awful voice"; "dreadful
manners"; "a painful performance"; "terrible handwriting";
"an unspeakable odor came sweeping into the room" [syn:
atrocious, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful,
terrible, unspeakable]
3: intensely or extremely bad or unpleasant in degree or
quality; "severe pain"; "a severe case of flu"; "a terrible
cough"; "under wicked fire from the enemy's guns"; "a wicked
cough" [syn: severe, terrible, wicked]
4: extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact; "in a
frightful hurry"; "spent a frightful amount of money" [syn:
frightful, terrible, awful, tremendous]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
188 Moby Thesaurus words for "terrible":
aberrant, abnormal, abominable, acute, alarming, appalling,
arduous, arrant, ashamed, astounding, atrocious, awe-inspiring,
awesome, awful, bad, baneful, base, beastly, beneath contempt,
blameworthy, brutal, concentrated, conscience-stricken,
contemptible, contrite, criminal, deadly, delinquent, deplorable,
desperate, despicable, detestable, deviant, difficult, dire,
direful, disagreeable, disgraceful, disgusting, distressed,
distressing, dread, dreaded, dreadful, egregious, enormous, evil,
exquisite, fearful, fearsome, fell, fetid, fierce, filthy,
flagrant, forbidding, formidable, foul, frightening, frightful,
fulsome, furious, ghastly, ghoulish, gory, grave, grievous, grim,
grisly, gross, grotesque, gruesome, guilty, hardly the thing,
harrowing, hateful, heavy, heinous, hideous, horrendous, horrible,
horrid, horrific, horrifying, howling, ignominious, illegal,
improper, inappropriate, incorrect, indecorous, infamous,
intolerable, joyless, laborious, lamentable, loathsome, lousy,
macabre, mephitic, miserable, monstrous, morbid, nasty, nauseating,
nauseous, nefarious, noisome, not done, not the thing, notorious,
noxious, obnoxious, odious, off-base, off-color, offensive,
out-of-line, outrageous, pitiable, pitiful, rank, redoubtable,
regretful, regrettable, remorseful, repelling, reprehensible,
repugnant, repulsive, revolting, rotten, rousing, rueful,
sacrilegious, sad, savage, scandalous, schlock, schrecklich,
scurvy, serious, severe, shabby, shameful, shameless, shocking,
shoddy, sinful, sordid, sorry, squalid, strenuous, terrible,
terrific, terrifying, thumping, toilsome, too bad, tough, tragic,
tremendous, unbearable, unclean, undue, unfit, unfitting,
unfortunate, unhappy, unlawful, unpleasant, unrighteous, unseemly,
unspeakable, unsuitable, vehement, vicious, vile, villainous,
violent, whacking, wicked, woeful, worst, worthless, wretched,
wrong, wrongful