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

Beyond the fact the Mavericks have been in a nosedive with 20 losses in 24 games, the schedule-maker hasn’t been terribly kind to Dallas, either. —Nate Sanchez, Dallas Morning News, 17 Mar. 2026

But beneath the water, something had gone terribly wrong. —Meghan Schiller, CBS News, 16 Mar. 2026

Right now, in large part because of the CBK revival, that’s terribly out of place. —Tamim Alnuweiri, InStyle, 15 Mar. 2026

Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ sentence is absolutely appropriate, and former Democratic Colorado State Senator Sonya Jacquez Lewis’s sentence is terribly lenient. —Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 14 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for terribly

• unbearably