terrific

CEFRB1

/təˈɹɪfɪk/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Excellent or very impressive.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Extremely good; excellent, amazing.

Examples

  • I hit on the terrific idea of cheating at cards by chance.

  • The performance received terrific applause from the audience.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Very strong or intense; excessive, tremendous.

  2. Terrifying, causing terror; terrible; sublime, awe-inspiring.

  3. Causing terror; terrifying.

More examples

In context

  • I say! She's a terrific tennis player.

  • I've got a terrific hangover this morning.

  • The car came round the bend at a terrific speed.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The skilled chef prepared a blank meal, earning praise from all the dinner guests.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From French terrifique, and its source, Latin terrificus (“terrifying”), from terrēre (“to frighten, terrify”) + -ficus, related to facere (“to make”). By surface analysis, terrify + -ic. The sense of excellent or amazing is an ameliorative semantic shift from the original sense of terrifying. Compare similar semantic development in sick and wicked.