terrific

B1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /təˈrɪfɪk/ UK /təˈɹɪfɪk/ See IPA manual

Freq #2715

Meanings

1

adj
Extremely good; excellent.

She's a terrific tennis player.
2

adj
Very great or intense.

The car came round the bend at a terrific speed.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · extremely good; excellent. wondrous

More brilliant horrific

Word family

Forms terrifically

Related forms terrible terrify terrifying terror terrorist terrorize

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

terrific thunderstorm
an extremely powerful thunderstorm

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From French terrifique, and its source, Latin terrificus (“terrifying”), from terrēre (“to frighten, terrify”) + -ficus, related to facere (“to make”). By surface analysis, terrify + -ic. The sense of excellent or amazing is an ameliorative semantic shift from the original sense of terrifying. Compare similar semantic development in sick and wicked.

terrifique French terrificus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# terrific

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /təˈrɪfɪk/
**IPA (UK):** /təˈɹɪfɪk/
**Frequency rank:** 2715

## Meanings
1. Extremely good; excellent.
2. Very great or intense.

## Examples
- She's a terrific tennis player.
- The car came round the bend at a terrific speed.

## Synonyms
- brilliant
- horrific

## Related Forms
- terrible
- terrify
- terrifying
- terror
- terrorist
- terrorize

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: terrifique
- Root: terrificus

## Etymology
From French terrifique, and its source, Latin terrificus (“terrifying”), from terrēre (“to frighten, terrify”) + -ficus, related to facere (“to make”). By surface analysis, terrify + -ic. The sense of excellent or amazing is an ameliorative semantic shift from the original sense of terrifying. Compare similar semantic development in sick and wicked.

## AI Etymology
Terrific is from French terrifique, and its source, Latin terrificus (“terrifying”), from terrēre (“to frighten, terrify”) + -ficus, related to facere (“to make”). By surface analysis, terrify + -ic. The sense of excellent or amazing is an ameliorative semantic shift from the original sense of terrifying. Compare similar semantic development in sick and wicked. In present-day use, it can mean extremely good; excellent, or very great or intense.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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