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terrible

/ˈtɛɹəbəl/adjective, adverb

terrible is spelled T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 51 times per million words in written English, the 1,993rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, terrible means “Dreadful; causing terror, alarm and fear; awesome” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in terrible?

Letters8: T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing51 times per million words; the 1,993rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is terrible?

Terrible appears 51 times per million words in written English, the 1,993rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce terrible?

  • US /ˈtɛɹəbəl/
  • US [ˈtɛɹəbl̩]
  • US /ˈtɛɹɪbəl/

Terrible has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-terrible.wav, En-us-terrible.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of terrible

  • terribler comparative
  • more terrible comparative
  • terriblest superlative
  • most terrible superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does terrible mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Dreadful; causing terror, alarm and fear; awesome

    The witch laid a terrible curse on him.

  2. 2

    Formidable, powerful.

  3. 3

    Intense; extreme in degree or extent.

    He paid a terrible price for his life of drinking.

  4. 4

    Very unpleasant; disagreeable.

    The food was terrible, but it was free.

  5. 5

    Very bad; lousy.

    Whatever he thinks, he is a terrible driver.

  6. 6

    IrelandProne to a particular temptation.

    He's a terrible man for beer.

adverb

  1. 1

    colloquialIn a terrible way; to a terrible extent; terribly; awfully.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Terrible in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchterrible, horrible, épouvantable (dreadful; causing alarm or fear)
Germanschrecklich (dreadful; causing alarm or fear), furchtbar (very unpleasant), miserabel (very bad)
Portugueseterrível (dreadful; causing alarm or fear), horrível (very unpleasant), formidável (most formidable)
Spanishterrible (dreadful; causing alarm or fear), horrible (very unpleasant), infumable (very bad)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does terrible come from?

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.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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