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comparative terribler or more terrible, superlative terriblest or most terrible
Dreadful; causing terror, alarm and fear; awesome quotations examples
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
Formidable, powerful. quotations examples
[…] 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
"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 Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 96
Intense; extreme in degree or extent. quotations examples
‘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
Unpleasant; disagreeable. quotations examples
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
Very bad; lousy. quotations examples
The openly ridiculous plot has The Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) scheming to win the Pirate Of The Year competition, even though he’s a terrible pirate, far outclassed by rivals voiced by Jeremy Piven and Salma Hayek.
2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits”, in The Onion AV Club
comparative more terrible, superlative most terrible
(colloquial, dialect) In a terrible way; to a terrible extent; terribly; awfully. quotations examples
‘Oh, terrible bad, sir, terrible deep the snow is,’ said the hedgehog.
1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, Ware: Wordsworth Classics, published 1993, page 59