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Crossword clues for terrible

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
terrible
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a bad/terrible joke (=not funny)
▪ Dad was known for his bad jokes.
a bad/terrible storm
▪ This was the worst storm for 50 years.
a bad/terrible/dreadful etc mistake
▪ It would be a terrible mistake to marry him.
a bad/terrible/nasty temper
▪ He ran back home in a terrible temper.
a crying/great/terrible shame
▪ It was a crying shame that they lost the game.
a dark/terrible secret (=a secret about something bad)
▪ I’m sure every family has a few dark secrets.
a horrific/terrible/appalling crash
▪ a horrific crash in which three teenage boys were killed
a real/awful/terrible etc nuisance
▪ The dogs next door are a real nuisance.
a serious/terrible misunderstanding
▪ There have been some serious misunderstandings which have led to conflict.
a severe/terrible/awful blow
▪ The news was a terrible blow for his family.
a terrible dilemma
▪ She was in a terrible dilemma because she loved both men.
a terrible disaster
▪ It was a terrible disaster which carried away a large part of the hillside.
a terrible misfortune
▪ At that time, being thin was considered a terrible misfortune for women.
a terrible price
▪ The sport can exact a terrible price from its participants.
a terrible scream (=by someone suffering great pain or fear)
▪ We were woken late that night by the most terrible screams.
a terrible state
▪ His apartment was in a terrible state.
a terrible strain
▪ It’s been a terrible strain.
a terrible/awful revenge
▪ Caesar returned to Rome to exact a terrible revenge.
a terrible/awful shock
▪ Her death was a terrible shock to everyone.
a terrible/dreadful etc flirt (=someone who flirts a lot)
▪ She’s an incorrigible flirt!
a terrible/dreadful ordeal
▪ The trial was a dreadful ordeal.
a terrible/great tragedy
▪ His death is a terrible tragedy for his family.
a terrible/horrible/grim fate
▪ The crew of the ship met a terrible fate.
a terrible/horrific crime (also a dreadful crime British English)
▪ What made him commit such a terrible crime?
a terrible/poor/rotten liar (=who does not tell believable lies)
▪ You're a rotten liar, Julia. What really happened?
a terrible/stupid/odd etc thing to say
▪ I know it’s a terrible thing to say, but I wish he’d just go away.
awful/dreadful/terrible weather
▪ We came home early because of the awful weather.
bad/poor/terrible
▪ A student with a poor memory may struggle in school.
bad/poor/terrible/awful
▪ Why do doctors have such terrible handwriting?
bad/terrible
▪ The traffic was terrible this morning.
bad/terrible (=with many spots or marks)
▪ I had terrible skin when I was a teenager.
▪ My skin’s really bad at the moment.
bad/terrible/severe
▪ I’ve got a really bad headache.
enfant terrible
have a good/terrible etc time
▪ Thanks for everything – we had a great time.
in good/bad/terrible etc condition
▪ How do you keep your hair in such perfect condition?
terrible news (=very bad)
terrible toothache
▪ I had terrible toothache all last night.
terrible trouble
▪ I’ve been having terrible trouble sleeping.
terrible (=very bad)
▪ Some of the victims suffered terrible injuries.
terrible/awful
▪ I woke up with a terrible pain in my side.
the awful/terrible/dreadful etc truth
▪ She could not bring herself to tell them the awful truth.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
how
▪ Suddenly I realized how terrible the fight would be for Elizabeth.
▪ It's enough for him to remind you just how terrible the other congregation is.
▪ By Andrew Rawnsley HOW terrible it can be when your dreams come true.
▪ He complained to me about how terrible it was.
▪ She couldn't wait until she was old. How terrible to be thirty and not to have realised one's ambitions!
▪ You listen to how good you are, then how terrible you are.
▪ She realized how terrible the noises of war must be.
▪ They begin their pitch by emphasizing how terrible it is to be fat.
more
▪ For the yellow menace.was even bigger and more terrible than they knew.
▪ Earth gave birth to her last and most frightful offspring, a creature more terrible than any that had gone before.
▪ The hopeless cry came again, louder, nearer, and more terrible than before.
▪ Hermes warned him that if he persisted in his stubborn silence, he should suffer still more terrible things.
▪ As time passed, the face in the picture grew slowly more terrible.
▪ For Dorian, this was more terrible than the dead body in the room.
▪ For a long time she waited, and nothing more terrible came to enter that silence than her own dark imaginings.
▪ But do you not think the life of the Thirties, the daily life, was much more terrible?
most
▪ The most terrible bad form. 5.
▪ And there Dionysus showed himself in his most terrible aspect.
▪ That question was decided for her in a most terrible way.
▪ The fire was the most terrible enemy our men met that day.
▪ And they've left the most terrible mess in their bedrooms.
▪ It seemed to concern his father and the stranger, and as such, must be of the most terrible importance.
▪ The most terrible, awful thing that could have happened.
▪ Bob Dole is the most terrible of the candidates for the Republican nomination, until you consider all the others.
so
▪ Oh, but the damage was so terrible, the mess so unspeakable, that he did not know where to begin.
▪ The smell is so terrible you want to throw up.
▪ At first I thought he would learn because he made us look so terrible.
▪ Nothing half so terrible had happened to her; no one she loved had been killed or even hurt.
▪ Its disappearance was quickly succeeded by the explosion. So terrible a spectacle is seldom witnessed.
▪ His screams were so terrible that none who ever heard them forgot them till their dying day.
▪ All the sentences they give me to say are so terrible.
■ NOUN
accident
▪ His body felt that it had been in a terrible accident.
▪ A terrible accident befalling strangers but truly affecting each of us so deeply.
▪ One slip or lapse and a terrible accident would never be far away.
▪ Because of this terrible accident, we have been offered some-thing precious.
▪ For a moment he thought he had been in a terrible accident.
▪ If it was murder and not some terrible accident.
▪ And he felt, obscurely, that the terrible accident needed to be given coherent thought.
condition
▪ It was hard to imagine that children were willingly enduring such terrible conditions.
▪ They were in terrible condition, Scotch tape on some of them, others all beat up and scuffed and folded.
▪ Roads in the liberated areas are few and in terrible condition.
▪ When she was dumped she was in terrible condition, coping with seven young pups.
▪ The population in the north and east are now living in terrible conditions.
▪ Disorder was accentuated by the terrible conditions.
▪ Q My hair is in terrible condition.
danger
▪ But what could be strong enough to drive a man from his homeland, to face terrible dangers in the skies?
▪ Yet he must consider that possibility, for if it was true, he was in terrible danger.
▪ But now they're in terrible danger.
▪ But what probably worried them more was the terrible danger Berthold was putting himself in.
event
▪ On the first two occasions it preceded some terrible event, so he is in a state of great apprehension.
▪ And how will the fractured Cappadora family survive this terrible event?
▪ Police added that at one stage he had trouble in speaking about the terrible events.
▪ As Theseus listened, overwhelmed by this sum of terrible events, Hippolytus still breathing was carried in.
▪ There are three lessons to be drawn from this terrible event.
▪ Felix Jaeger cursed the dark destiny that had dragged him into these terrible events.
▪ The valley seemed to be waiting, holding its breath in anticipation of some terrible event.
▪ As he regains consciousness, he gradually remembers the terrible events of the last few days.
injury
▪ The couple have had months of treatment for their terrible injuries.
▪ I looked after her, feeling like some one who has just sustained a terrible injury from which he will never recover.
▪ This is a good quality in that we will fight on despite terrible injuries, Sir.
▪ The appeal was launched with the help of former patients whose recovery from terrible injuries has been helped by such treatment.
▪ They were horrified the next morning when they saw that the child was covered in terrible injuries.
▪ Both badgers and terriers often suffer terrible injuries.
▪ Police said yesterday the terrible injuries on their bodies, washed up on a beach, could be deceptive.
mistake
▪ Have I made a terrible mistake?
▪ I made the terrible mistake of returning home to Cheyenne to practice law.
▪ Once I drank too much and spent the night with her, which was a terrible mistake.
▪ I wanted to make up for the terrible mistakes I had made during his childhood and youth.
▪ It was all a terrible mistake.
▪ I was afraid that if I appeared too eager, it might dawn on the woman she had made a terrible mistake.
▪ Frankly, it all looked like a terrible mistake.
▪ Rcagan had no choice but to withdraw the Marines, and in effect admit a terrible mistake.
news
▪ What terrible news could it contain?
▪ Sit down, Benjamin, I have terrible news.
▪ He was, in fact, trying to break the terrible news gently to his father.
▪ A few hours later came the terrible news.
▪ At last I could share my terrible news with my friend.
▪ At this last, Seton left them, to make for his own castle near Cockenzie, with his terrible news.
▪ The man Who laughs is merely some one Who has not yet heard the terrible news.
▪ It is terrible news for publicists and headline hunters everywhere but the secret has to be revealed.
ordeal
▪ It must have been a terrible ordeal.
▪ I have no doubt this has been a terrible ordeal for you and the verdict is a personal and professional catastrophe.
▪ Having a will professionally drawn up is not a terrible ordeal and it need not take long to explain your wishes.
▪ It was a terrible ordeal for my hon. and learned Friend and for his family.
▪ The strain has been a terrible ordeal.
pain
▪ It was five minutes before he stopped yelling, before he started to absorb the terrible pain that burnt through his flesh.
▪ She looked into his eyes and saw terrible pain and inconsolable grief.
▪ In the terrible pain and surprise of the moment, both my pistols went off and fell from my hands.
▪ He wanted to, but to be so close would expose him to that terrible pain of loss.
▪ And after about three days, I was in terrible pain and started to bleed a lot.
▪ It did not last but the parting seems to have been no terrible pain, the memory very fond.
▪ Asleep, he'd felt a terrible pain in his upper arm.
place
▪ Save me from this terrible place!
▪ It was a terrible place, he said.
▪ Digby was in that terrible place which comedians fear most of all - the gag swamp.
▪ How could I get away from this terrible place?
▪ I don't expect them to leave here with a catalogue of stories about what a terrible place Whitely is.
▪ A terrible place, St Jude's Passage.
▪ What is this terrible place ...?
▪ It was the most terrible place she had ever been in in her life.
shock
▪ Being told I had cancer was a terrible shock.
▪ It gave us all a terrible shock.
▪ This will be a terrible shock to her.
▪ I had a terrible shock when you opened your eyes and looked so steadily at me.
▪ He looked at the chair by the fireside and got a terrible shock.
▪ I hadn't seen them carry her in from the car so it was a terrible shock for me.
▪ Losing your aunt like that must have been a terrible shock.
state
▪ And he was in a terrible state.
▪ They did not tell her this, but they reproached her for hiding her terrible state from them, her own sisters.
▪ He was in that terrible state of lumbar pain where mobility involves a slow ambulatory squat.
▪ It was in a terrible state when we moved in but we cleaned it up and made it quite homely.
▪ He also had drains that were in a terrible state and therefore wanted one of his sons to become a plumber.
▪ She hurried round to Mozart's apartment, where she found Constanze in a terrible state, though trying to keep calm.
thing
▪ What terrible things I have done!
▪ Instinctively we knew that terrible things were going to happen in our elderly aunts peaceful living room.
▪ She knew the terrible things her son had written to the girl after she had rejected him.
▪ He was right, of course, Alistair had done terrible things to me.
▪ Recently I have witnessed some terrible things.
▪ When Kip first arrived a terrible thing had happened.
▪ It was a horrible thing, a terrible thing, which could have deranged anybody in my opinion.
▪ And the terrible thing is, Ray, part of him liked it.
things
▪ What terrible things I have done!
▪ Throughout history terrible things have happened when one man or group believed themselves superior to the rest of us.
▪ There are terrible things going on here.
▪ Instinctively we knew that terrible things were going to happen in our elderly aunts peaceful living room.
▪ No wonder she'd lied when so many terrible things had started happening all around her.
▪ This is so despite the terrible things we learn when we look into the backgrounds of those who go beyond the limits.
▪ We hear terrible things of your schooling system in my country, and I've met a lot of you.
▪ Sleeping people do all kinds of terrible things to one another.
time
▪ I know you had a terrible time and the last thing I meant to do was to upset you.
▪ It had been a terrible time for him, but it was all over.
▪ I was the best-known face in East Anglia, but I was having a terrible time.
▪ My father is angry at me for going away with my family at this terrible time.
▪ It was a dark and terrible time.
▪ She'd had a terrible time at the birth.
▪ Amelia had a terrible time that winter.
tragedy
▪ More often, however, they haunt that person alone and by so doing indicate some terrible tragedy is imminent.
▪ They elope together, wander the country in search of work, and, finally, a terrible tragedy overtakes their children.
trouble
▪ All of a sudden the dynamite business was in terrible trouble.
▪ When something goes wrong, as it always does, they are in terrible trouble.
truth
▪ A careful read of this book will show that underpinning it is a terrible truth.
▪ They had admitted terrible truths to them-selves, which the rest of us worked hard to deny.
▪ They now knew the terrible truth, even though without a body they still could not mourn.
▪ She could not discredit this terrible truth.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be a good/wonderful/terrible etc cook
▪ As a result, the adult John is obsessed with food, has an overstocked fridge and is a good cook.
▪ Franca, said to be a good cook, was not a good cook, just an ingenious cook.
▪ He is a good cook, isn't he?
▪ My aunt and I are good cooks.
▪ Nils may be a good cook, but his time will be better spent away from the galley.
▪ Of motivation to get good grades in school or to be a good cook?
▪ To be a good cook you have to do a lot of things precisely, but it requires no understanding.
▪ Zelah was a good cook and he enjoyed the meal.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a terrible accident
▪ I have a terrible headache.
▪ The movie was terrible.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He had some idea of what was ahead of him, for he knew the terrible tales about the Robemaker's Workshops.
▪ He says it's terrible, because the aircraft has such a good safety record.
▪ I was withdrawing from drugs and in a terrible state.
▪ It is hard to believe that you will be able to make something happen to get you out of this terrible mess.
▪ Students like Andrea are caught in a terrible bind.
▪ The attitude they have towards you is terrible, like you're lower than the dirt they tread on.
▪ Yet beyond the immediate and terrible losses suffered, the fire had lasting consequences for the lives of Californians.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Terrible

Terrible \Ter"ri*ble\, a. [F., fr. L. terribilis, fr. terrere to frighten. See Terror.]

  1. Adapted or likely to excite terror, awe, or dread; dreadful; formidable.

    Prudent in peace, and terrible in war.
    --Prior.

    Thou shalt not be affrighted at them; for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.
    --Deut. vii. 21.

  2. Excessive; extreme; severe. [Colloq.]

    The terrible coldness of the season.
    --Clarendon.

    Syn: Terrific; fearful; frightful; formidable; dreadful; horrible; shocking; awful. [1913 Webster] -- Ter"ri*ble*ness, n. -- Ter"ri*bly, adv.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
terrible

late 14c., "causing terror, awe, or dread; frightful," from Old French terrible (12c.), from Latin terribilis "frightful," from terrere "fill with fear," from PIE root *tres- "to tremble" (cognates: Sanskrit trasati "trembles," Avestan tarshta "feared, revered," Greek treëin "to tremble," Lithuanian trišeti "to tremble," Old Church Slavonic treso "I shake," Middle Irish tarrach "timid"). Weakened sense of "very bad, awful" is first attested 1590s.

Wiktionary
terrible

a. 1 dreadful; causing alarm and fear. 2 formidable, powerful. 3 intense; extreme in degree or extent.

WordNet
terrible
  1. adj. causing fear or dread or terror; "the awful war"; "an awful risk"; "dire news"; "a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked"; "the dread presence of the headmaster"; "polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was"; "a dreadful storm"; "a fearful howling"; "horrendous explosions shook the city"; "a terrible curse" [syn: awful, dire, direful, dread(a), dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific]

  2. exceptionally bad or displeasing; "atrocious taste"; "abominable workmanship"; "an awful voice"; "dreadful manners"; "a painful performance"; "terrible handwriting"; "an unspeakable odor came sweeping into the room" [syn: atrocious, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful, unspeakable]

  3. intensely or extremely bad or unpleasant in degree or quality; "severe pain"; "a severe case of flu"; "a terrible cough"; "under wicked fire from the enemy's guns"; "a wicked cough" [syn: severe, wicked]

  4. extremely distressing; "fearful slum conditions"; "a frightful mistake"; "suffered terrible thirst" [syn: fearful, frightful]

Wikipedia
Terrible

Terrible, Le Terrible or El Terrible may refer to:

Usage examples of "terrible".

I mean, our own government had terrible policies for Aboriginal people.

It was terrible in the nineteen thirties, the Depression was on and people were so poor, especially Aboriginal people.

Lots and lots of pits and craters in his cheeks, from terrible acne when he was young.

As terrible as that night was, I told myself that the Adagio had to end sometime.

He names the beverage Dopokoke and proceeds to make a fortune with it - the terrible punchline being that his own son becomes addicted to the drink and eventually dies.

What a terrible trap drug addiction is: part of your brain wants you to smoke more, and whenever you do the other part wants you to smoke less.

I would explain to both of them the terrible power that nicotine addiction holds over its victims.

Terrible as were the losses of the Huguenots by fire and sword, considerable as were the defections from their ranks of those who found in the reformed Catholic church a spiritual refuge, still greater was the loss of the Protestant cause in failing to secure the adherence of such minds as Dolet and Rabelais, Ronsard and Montaigne, and of the thousands influenced by them.

The description of the black forest with the evil stone, and of the terrible cosmic adumbrations when the horror is finally extirpated, will repay one for wading through the very gradual action and plethora of Scottish dialect.

It has been stated often enough, but I will reiterate: Referencing your yellow page listing in other media advertising, such as newspaper or radio, is a terrible idea.

Nouda the Terrible kept coming up, as did an afrit named Tchue, and something called Faquarl was notable too in a dozen cultures.

The Reverend Father Agaric steadfastly endured the rigour of the laws which struck himself personally, as well as the terrible fall of the Emiral of which he was the chief cause.

Juss, enforcing his half frozen limbs to resume the ascent, beheld a sight of woe too terrible for the eye: a young man, helmed and graithed in dark iron, a black-a-moor with goggle-eyes and white teeth agrin, who held by the neck a fair young lady kneeling on her knees and clasping his as in supplication, and he most bloodily brandishing aloft his spear of six foot of length as minded to reave her of her life.

Danlo had learned to restrain the worst of his hatred, and he began to understand the terrible patience and strength that ahimsa required of a man.

Erza passed them, got within a length, flew at the hare with terrible swiftness aiming at his scut, and, thinking she had seized him, rolled over like a ball.