Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Very good or fine; splendid.
- adjective Awesome; astounding.
- adjective Causing terror or great fear; terrifying.
- adjective Very bad or unpleasant; frightful.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Causing terror; fitted to excite great fear or dread; dreadful: as, a terrific storm.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Causing terror; adapted to excite great fear or dread; terrible
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective colloquial Frighteningly
good . - adjective colloquial
Astounding orawesome . - adjective
Terrifying ;causing terror - adjective
Frightful or veryunpleasant . - adjective colloquial
Extraordinarily great orintense .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective extraordinarily good or great ; used especially as intensifiers
- adjective causing extreme terror
- adjective very great or intense
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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He didn't say whether he'll present his candidacy for the role, which he called "terrific."
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He didn't say whether he'll present his candidacy for the role, which he called "terrific."
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Hall's slicked-back hair and long beard were a turnoff for Tausch, added to what she calls terrific arrogance: "He was pretentious and always making pronunciamentos," she says.
Latest Articles 2009
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A delighted Commissioner David Stern pronounced the NBA product was in "terrific" shape.
Record 100,000-plus crowd takes in All-Star Game in Dallas 2010
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For now, let's just be happy that a show many had left for dead has rallied, wrapping up a terrific season in terrific fashion.
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Want a crash course in terrific storytelling and killer dialogue?
Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » Lessons from the screenwriters 2010
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Really terrific from a humanitarian standpoint, and really great for the rule of law.
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Lodwick, Demong, normal hill silver medalist Johnny Spillane and Brett Camerota took silver on Tuesday, putting themselves in terrific position with strong ski jumps in the morning and battling through a tough 4x5-kilometer relay as snow fell in Whistler Olympic Park.
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My wife is in terrific shape (if you're in or near NYC, go watch the Marathon this weekend and cheer her and her 30,000 closest friends on!) and I think we're both dressing better than we ever have.
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Leon Washington returned Steve Weatherford's punt 37 yards - and even dragged the punter on his back for a few of those yards - to put the Jets in terrific field position at the Chiefs 46.
USATODAY.com 2008
frindley commented on the word terrific
"But, Charlotte," said Wilbur, "I'm not terrific."
"That doesn't make a particle of difference," replied Charlotte. "Not a particle. People believe almost anything they see in print."
–Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
April 20, 2008
whichbe commented on the word terrific
A contranym: it means both "inducing terror" and fantastic or amazing.
May 15, 2008