How do you use the word "terrible" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "terrible": A terrible fate awaited him. I feel terrible about my mistake.

Terrible Meaning

/ˈtɛɹəbəl/

Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

adjDreadful; causing terror, alarm and fear; awesome

adjFormidable, powerful.

Sentence Examples

A terrible fate awaited him.

I feel terrible about my mistake.

The weather was terrible but we carried on regardless.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

awful dread wicked

Antonyms:

good

CEFR Practice Quiz

The powerful storm caused ____ damage, destroying every single house in the small village.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The weather was absolutely ____ yesterday with heavy rain and strong winds that lasted for the entire afternoon today.

Word Origin & History

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tres- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *troséyeti Proto-Italic *trozeō Latin terreō Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin terribilislbor. Old French terriblebor. Middle English terrible English terrible Inherited from Middle English terrible, from Old French terrible, from Latin terribilis (“frightful”), from terreō (“to frighten, terrify, alarm; to deter by terror, scare (away)”). Compare terror, deter. By surface analysis, terror + -ible. Displaced Old English atol and sliþe, while also largely overtaking grimm.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"People who have not been in Narnia sometimes think that a thing cannot be good and terrible at the same time. If the children had ever thought so, they were cured of it now. For when they tried to look at Aslan's face they just caught a glimpse of the golden mane and the great, royal, solemn, overwhelming eyes; and then they found they couldn't look at him and went all trembly." — 1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:

"[…]and there was even a party of the younger men who pretended to admire him, calling him a "true sea-dog," and "real old salt," and such-like names, and saying there was the sort of man that made England terrible at sea." — 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

""He is the right sort of man for a labourer, but he is a terrible eater, to be sure," thought the farmer." — 1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 96:

"‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?" — 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

"To Edward […] he was terrible, nerve-inflaming, poisonously asphyxiating. He sat rocking himself in the late Mr. Churchill's swing chair, smoking and twaddling." — 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

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