terribly
adverb
Everyday
- Terribly means very or extremely (informal): I'm terribly sorry. tree →
- Terribly means very badly or in a way that is awful: he sang terribly. tree →
- Terribly can mean in a way that causes great suffering: she was terribly hurt. tree →
In the lessons
In polite British speech «terribly» is often just a strong «very»: terribly kind, terribly sorry. In stories it can show how badly something went or how much someone suffered. Phrases: terribly sorry, terribly important, went terribly wrong.
Examples
- I'm terribly sorry for being late. tree →
- The plan went terribly wrong. tree →
- She was terribly kind to us. tree →
- He played the piano terribly. tree →
- I miss my friend terribly. tree →
- The house was terribly damaged in the flood. tree →
- It's not terribly important. tree →
- I’m terribly afraid of the Kalidahs.” tree →
Note
«Terribly» as «very» can go before good words too (terribly nice), which surprises learners. «Not terribly» means «not very». Spelled with double «r»: terrible → terribly.
On Mova
- Trees and pragmatics of «terribly» in the school dictionary: every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- «terribly» in the school dictionary on Mova free.
This page in Markdown → https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/terribly/