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

The hardware required to contribute observations isn’t terribly expensive, and the process comes with detailed instructions, as well as enthusiastic support for rookies just getting started. —Phil Plait, Scientific American, 12 June 2026

The demand for first basemen in their mid-30s isn’t terribly great. —Levi Weaver, New York Times, 11 June 2026

For someone living with borderline personality disorder (BPD), that same silence can feel like evidence that something is terribly wrong. —Angela Haupt, Time, 11 June 2026

In 2020, The Comet felt terribly relevant. —Emily Watlington, ARTnews.com, 10 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for terribly

• unbearably