terribly

adverb

ter·​ri·​bly ˈter-ə-blē 

ˈte-rə-

1

: to an extreme degree : very : extremely

became terribly ill

had a terribly nice time

got terribly excited

I had tried a little radio before the war and hadn't been terribly impressed with it at the time.

—Walter Cronkite

He and Jimmy got into a quarrel about the girl's being fired, and it got terribly bitter.

—Virginia Foster Durr

2

: in a terrible way : very badly, poorly, or unpleasantly

behaving terribly

They were treated terribly.

This can be regarded as a somewhat progressive attitude because it is true that women were terribly abused in the Roman world.

—Norman F. Cantor

And then the next year I played terribly and finished close to last.

—Gene Littler

3

: very much

I miss you terribly.

Synonyms

• achingly
• almighty
• archly
• awful
• awfully
• badly
• beastly
• blisteringly
• bone
• colossally
• corking
• cracking
• damn
• damned
• dang
• deadly
• desperately
• eminently
• enormously
• especially
• ever
• exceedingly
• exceeding
• extra
• extremely
• fabulously
• fantastically
• far
• fiercely
• filthy
• frightfully
• full
• greatly
• heavily
• highly
• hugely
• immensely
• incredibly
• intensely
• jolly
• majorly
• mightily
• mighty
• monstrous [chiefly dialect]
• mortally
• most
• much
• particularly
• passing
• rattling
• real
• really
• right
• roaring
• roaringly
• seriously
• severely
• so
• sore
• sorely
• spanking
• specially
• stinking
• such
• super
• supremely
• surpassingly
• that
• thumping
• too
• unco
• uncommonly
• vastly
• very
• vitally
• way
• whacking
• wicked
• wildly

Examples of terribly in a Sentence

I'm terribly sorry to bother you

Recent Examples on the Web

The first indication that something had gone terribly wrong on the upper floors of 1626 Lexington Avenue arrived in the form of a deafening sound wave. —Steven Johnson, New York Times, 17 May 2024

All passengers remain accounted for — and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong. —Benjamin Vanhoose, Peoplemag, 15 May 2024

Plus, there are the unfortunate, uh, accents throughout, which evoke Earthbound stereotypes that feel terribly misguided. —Angelique Jackson, Variety, 11 May 2024

The metaphor isn’t terribly difficult to uncover: With depression, and a loss of purpose, life is depleted of color. —Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 10 May 2024

Compared with other common cancer screenings, lung cancer screening rates fall terribly behind. —Nina Thomas, Discover Magazine, 9 May 2024

His holdings comprise only reliable dividend payers that aren’t terribly expensive based on their PE multiples; among his top choices are Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, and Coca-Cola. —Shawn Tully, Fortune, 7 May 2024

The photos of that moment are mostly blurry and terribly composed, but special nonetheless. —Tommy Dorfman, Vogue, 2 May 2024

Related Articles Kurtenbach: The A’s treated their fans terribly. —Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 1 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1