Terrific Meaning

/təˈɹɪfɪk/
B1

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Listen pronunciation

adjTerrifying, causing terror; terrible; sublime, awe-inspiring.

adjCausing terror; terrifying.

This dish is terrific.
I hit on the terrific idea of cheating at cards by chance.
The performance received terrific applause from the audience.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The skilled chef prepared a ____ meal, earning praise from all the dinner guests.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She did a ____ job on the presentation and received a lot of praise from her colleagues and the manager today.

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 *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *θakos Proto-Italic *-fakos Latin -ficus Latin terrificusder. French terrifiqueder. English terrific 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.

"[T]he diſmal ſhrieks of demoniac rage […] rouſed phantoms of horror in her mind, far more terrific than all that dreaming ſuperſtition ever drew." — 1798, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, “[Maria: or, The] Wrongs of Woman”, in W[illiam] Godwin, editor, Posthumous Works of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […]; and G[eorge,] G[eorge] and J[ohn] Robinson, […], →OCLC, chapter III, page 50:
"Think of wandering amid sepulchral ruins, of stumbling over the bones of the dead, of encountering what I cannot describe,—the horror of being among those who are neither the living or the dead;—those dark and shadowless things that sport themselves with the reliques of the dead, and feast and love amid corruption,—ghastly, mocking, and terrific." — 1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 154:
"He made love in a coach and six, and married in a coach and twelve, and all his horses were milk-white horses with one red spot on the back which he caused to be hidden by the harness. For, the spot would come there, though every horse was milk-white when Captain Murderer bought him. And the spot was young bride's blood. (To this terrific point I am indebted for my first personal experience of a shudder and cold beads on the forehead.)" — 1860, Charles Dickens, Captain Murderer:
"The ſtar tremulous turn'd its thundering poles, and the whole creation reſounded; when, with terrific haſte, Adamida, in obediance to the divine command, flew amidſt overwhelming ſtorms, ruſhing clouds, falling mountains, and ſwelling ſeas." — 1769, Joseph Collyer, transl., The Messiah, 4th edition, page 280:
"When the warriors saw this, their cheers were terrific." — 1943, H. Lorna Bingham, The Lost Tribe, Sydney: Winn and Co., page 23, column 2:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
The skilled chef prepared a ____ meal, earning praise from all the dinner guests.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She did a ____ job on the presentation and received a lot of praise from her colleagues and the manager today.

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