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 of terribly

• 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

And then bodies, terribly short on ambiguity. —Katie Campione, Deadline, 14 May 2026

Nearby, cruise ship passengers in Endicott Arm felt the ocean breathe, reporting sudden, violent currents and dramatic shifts in water levels that signaled something had gone terribly wrong deep in the wilderness. —Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 14 May 2026

This is a terribly misguided practice. —Chris Roemer, Baltimore Sun, 14 May 2026

The Giants have fared terribly in division and against the Cowboys specifically in recent years. —Pat Leonard, New York Daily News, 11 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for terribly

• unbearably