terribly
adverb
ter·ri·bly
ˈter-ə-blē 
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
Walter CronkiteHe and Jimmy got into a quarrel about the girl's being fired, and it got terribly bitter.—Virginia Foster Durr
Virginia Foster Durr2
: 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
Norman F. CantorAnd then the next year I played terribly and finished close to last.—Gene Littler
Gene Littler3
: very much
I miss you terribly.
Examples of terribly in a Sentence
I'm terribly sorry to bother you
Recent Examples on the Web
To Graydon Carter, a founder and coeditor of Air Mail and former editor of Vanity Fair, all of this seems terribly unfair.
—Nathan King, Architectural Digest, 17 Apr. 2025
Something would have to go terribly wrong for the Yankees to give up on the 2025 season.
—Chris Kirschner, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025
But that’s not terribly satisfying in either lexicological or physical terms.
—Phil Plait, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2025
Democrats tried proxy voting before, and it was terribly abused.
—John W. Dean, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for terribly
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Nathan King, Architectural Digest, 17 Apr. 2025
Something would have to go terribly wrong for the Yankees to give up on the 2025 season.
—Chris Kirschner, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025
But that’s not terribly satisfying in either lexicological or physical terms.
—Phil Plait, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2025
Democrats tried proxy voting before, and it was terribly abused.
—John W. Dean, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for terribly
Cite this Entry
“Terribly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terribly. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.
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