terribly

adverb

ter·​ri·​bly ˈter-ə-blē How to pronounce terribly (audio)
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.

Examples of terribly in a Sentence

I'm terribly sorry to bother you
Recent Examples on the Web But the store doesn’t look terribly different from the 1970s. Bud Kennedy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 May 2024 These characters may not run terribly deep, but there’s something oddly poignant, amid all the delicious sleaze on display, in the film’s portraiture of dead-end lives with few plans for the future but to f—— the pain away. Guy Lodge, Variety, 22 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for terribly 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'terribly.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of terribly was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near terribly

Cite this Entry

“Terribly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terribly. Accessed 2 Jun. 2024.

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