terribly
part of speech
adverb
meaning for a pupil
1) Terribly means very or extremely (informal): I'm terribly sorry. tree →
2) Terribly means very badly or in a way that is awful: he sang terribly. tree →
3) Terribly can mean in a way that causes great suffering: she was terribly hurt. tree →
sense 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.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «terribly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.