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
He and Jimmy got into a quarrel about the girl's being fired, and it got terribly bitter.—Virginia Foster Durr
2
: 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
And then the next year I played terribly and finished close to last.—Gene Littler
3
: very much
I miss you terribly.
Examples of terribly in a Sentence
I'm terribly sorry to bother you
Recent Examples on the Web
The show’s atmosphere of paranoia and mistrust seemed terribly prophetic in 2020, when this production—also from Steppenwolf—opened and closed early due to the pandemic shutdown.
—Juan A. Ramírez, Vogue, 9 Jan. 2026
The data center industry does not have a terribly good answer for this, except that their 83° sun-synchronous orbit is much less crowded than equatorial ones, meaning a lower risk of collisions.
—Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 7 Jan. 2026
Polls, however, suggest the bill is not terribly popular with voters, which has left Republicans saying the White House must do a better job of selling it.
—Ryan Mancini, The Hill, 31 Dec. 2025
He will be missed terribly by his family and friends.
—Wendy Murphy, Boston Herald, 30 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for terribly
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Terribly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terribly. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share