How to Use terrible in a Sentence

terrible

adjective
  • I have a terrible cold.
  • The service at that restaurant is terrible.
  • Traffic was held up by a terrible accident.
  • Which is a terrible thing to let a kid buy.
    Outside Online, 21 Jan. 2026
  • This has to be a terrible way to live.
    Brian Moylan, Vulture, 4 Feb. 2026
  • But the rest of me knows this is a terrible idea.
    IEEE Spectrum, 16 Sep. 2025
  • And this is a terrible thing to hear, for sure.
    Kimi Robinson, USA Today, 20 May 2026
  • That was the name of the terrible idea.
    Thomas Lake, AJC.com, 4 June 2026
  • If that is true, that would be a terrible thing to do.
    Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 10 Feb. 2026
  • There is no doubt about what caused that terrible crash.
    Editorial, Boston Herald, 8 Mar. 2026
  • Greece has learned that at a terrible cost.
    ABC News, 26 June 2026
  • But, pale and weak, the boy faced a terrible wait.
    Patricia Callahan, ProPublica, 19 Mar. 2026
  • There are more—some too terrible to tell.
    Janine Di Giovanni, Vanity Fair, 25 June 2026
  • The buzz on this thing is terrible.
    Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 12 Mar. 2026
  • And left it in a terrible spot.
    Sahadev Sharma, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
  • This is who did this terrible thing.
    Literary Hub, 10 June 2026
  • This file is, to make a terrible pun, a beast, though.
    Chris Branch, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2026
  • None of his starts have been terrible.
    David Troy Outkick, FOXNews.com, 19 May 2026
  • Not a terrible break, thank the lord!
    Clare Fisher, PEOPLE, 2 Oct. 2025
  • The truck is rust‑free, but the paint is in terrible shape.
    Hartford Courant, 25 Apr. 2026
  • Not a terrible start across the pond.
    Joe Nguyen, Denver Post, 12 Oct. 2025
  • Two weeks ago there was a terrible fire at the house next door to hers.
    Caitlin Shetterly, NPR, 7 May 2025
  • That’s not terrible, but there should have been more.
    Mac Engel january 19, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 19 Jan. 2026
  • Some of his ideas were terrible.
    Editorial, Boston Herald, 12 Sep. 2025
  • The hood is messed up, terrible.
    Adam Sabes, FOXNews.com, 22 Apr. 2026
  • The hood is messed up, terrible.
    Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 7 Apr. 2026
  • But the lack of meaning at the end is terrible to him.
    Nicholas Dawidoff, New Yorker, 10 May 2026
  • This is why Craig would have made a terrible lawyer.
    Brian Moylan, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026
  • And today was a terrible day for us all the way around.
    Kansas City Star, 18 Apr. 2026
  • In real life, that would be a terrible idea for me.
    Robert Burko, Forbes.com, 12 June 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'terrible.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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