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

More rapt, more heartbroken, more rattled by the harrowing questions presented by the long, slow, terribly seductive suicide humanity seems bent on carrying out via technology. —Sara Holdren, Vulture, 9 Dec. 2025

Seeing people walking their dogs in West Park on the North Side is not terribly uncommon. —Ross Guidotti, CBS News, 8 Dec. 2025

Most Syrian citizens do not see the current government as terribly democratic, but 71 percent believe democracy, despite its problems, is better than the alternatives. —Salma Al-Shami, Foreign Affairs, 5 Dec. 2025

Overall drive quality is floaty and somewhat disconnected, but not terribly so. —New Atlas, 28 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for terribly

• unbearably