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

• extremely
• very
• incredibly
• too
• highly
• badly
• so
• damned
• damn
• severely
• really
• desperately
• seriously
• far
• intensely
• greatly

Examples of terribly in a Sentence

I'm terribly sorry to bother you

Recent Examples on the Web

Unfortunately, this new perspective on my correspondence is not terribly illuminating. —Rob Pegoraro, PC Magazine, 9 July 2025

But Metropolis in those days wasn’t terribly violent. —Tom Gliatto, People.com, 8 July 2025

The cliffs loomed up terribly out of the blackness. —Nicole Krauss, The Atlantic, 6 July 2025

And on Tuesday, June 24, the eight victims’ names were released on the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, intensifying the world’s attention on a birthday party gone terribly wrong. —Ethan Wolin updated July 4, Sacbee.com, 4 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for terribly

• unbearably