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

Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy — The message Kendall Coyne Schofield posted on her social media was not terribly difficult to decipher. —Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 7 Feb. 2026

Not that she’s been terribly missed in the deeply Democratic state. —Los Angeles Times, 4 Feb. 2026

Recognizing and coping with cognitive changes can be terribly difficult. —Liz Weston, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Feb. 2026

The problem being that Bungie has another game, Destiny 2, that players have invested in for a decade now, at Bungie is not being terribly forthcoming about what’s coming as of yet. —Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 30 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for terribly

• unbearably