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

And suddenly, that term — long shot — feels terribly apt in describing just about everything surrounding the 2025 San Francisco 49ers. —Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 10 Sep. 2025

But there’s also darkness in Cherry’s past, including an ex-boyfriend who has either terribly wronged her or been terribly wronged by her. —Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2025

And what if that fight didn’t go terribly well? —Literary Hub, 8 Sep. 2025

The circular center infotainment/gadget screen is neat, but not terribly functional. —New Atlas, 7 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for terribly

• unbearably