Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Very good or fine; splendid: a terrific tennis player.
- adj. Awesome; astounding: drove at a terrific rate of speed.
- adj. Causing terror or great fear; terrifying: a terrific wail.
- adj. Very bad or unpleasant; frightful: a terrific headache.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Causing terror; fitted to excite great fear or dread; dreadful: as, a terrific storm.
Wiktionary
- adj. Frighteningly good.
- adj. Astounding or awesome.
- adj. Terrifying; causing terror
- adj. Frightful or very unpleasant.
- adj. Extraordinarily great or intense.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Causing terror; adapted to excite great fear or dread; terrible.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. extraordinarily good or great ; used especially as intensifiers
- adj. causing extreme terror
- adj. very great or intense
Etymologies
- Latin terrificus : terrēre, to frighten + -ficus, -fic.
Examples
“He didn't say whether he'll present his candidacy for the role, which he called "terrific.”
“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.”
“A delighted Commissioner David Stern pronounced the NBA product was in "terrific" shape.”
“Want a crash course in terrific storytelling and killer dialogue?”
Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » Lessons from the screenwriters
“Really terrific from a humanitarian standpoint, and really great for the rule of law.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“All I can say is that I am in terrific company, sharing the same fate as Lester Holt, Carol Marin and Bill Kurtis.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘terrific’.
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The Bucolic Abattoir
Words which, when spoken, suggest something other than their real meaning.
bucolic, fungible, brouhaha, narthex, restive, inflammable, invaluable, raze, pulchritude, noisome, fatuous, terrific and 20 more...
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Muddleheaded Wombat
Childhood reading nostalgia, beginning with some choice examples from Ruth Park's classic The Muddleheaded Wombat.
miserabubble, animoil, soporific, possum magic, curiouser, snugglepot, cuddlepie, banksia men, gumnut babies, bottersnikes, magic pudding, gumbles and 31 more...
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-fic, -fication
making
whichbe A contranym: it means both "inducing terror" and fantastic or amazing. May 14, 2008
frindley "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) Apr 20, 2008