Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use terrific in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective

Terrific means causing terror; terrifying. Example: “The car came round the bend at a terrific speed.”

Examples of terrific by meaning

adjectiveVery strong or intense; excessive, tremendous.

  • The car came round the bend at a terrific speed.
  • I've got a terrific hangover this morning.
  • When the warriors saw this, their cheers were terrific.1943, H. Lorna Bingham, The Lost Tribe, Sydney: Winn and Co., page 23, column 2

adjectiveExtremely good; excellent, amazing.

  • I say! She's a terrific tennis player.

More sentences with terrific

  • Wow, what a banging haircut! It looks terrific!From the entry banging
  • She laid out a terrific spread for the party.From the entry lay out
  • This is a terrific way to loop but much more complicated to hook up.2024, Brent C. Robitaille, The Jazz Guitar Looper Pedal Book, page 9. From the entry loopist
  • Then it would say exactly what the client wanted — that it was a terrific book.2012 August 25, David Streitfeld, “The Best Book Reviews Money Can Buy”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry or words to that effect
  • She looked terrific for her age: a living advert for wild eating and north Norfolk outdoorswomanship.2011 October 6, Tom Cox, “Nature and nurture on a foraging foray in Norfolk”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian…. From the entry outdoorswomanship
  • Real life wasn’t that great, but living in fantasy land was terrific.2009, Romy Miller, “Everything You Know Might Quite Possibly Be Wrong”, in How to Be Wanted: Use the Law of Attraction to Date the Man You…. From the entry fantasy land
  • My friend Lizzie, who is an actual poet, is a terrific, prolific updater.2009 February 15, Virginia Heffernan, “Being There”, in New York Times. From the entry updater
  • Both are "wow" wines and terrific with barbecued, slightly charred, rarish beef or lamb.2009 June 20, Gord Stimmell, “How to raise dad's spirits on Father's Day”, in Toronto Star. From the entry rarish
  • Usually terrific with names, the interrupted president had just had a very human brain fart.2009, David Baldacci, First Family: King and Maxwell. From the entry body man
  • These shows are mostly forgettably zany, sketchlike comedies, but tonight’s installment does offer one that’s terrific.2007 March 23, Virginia Heffernan, “Welcome Inside the Factory Where TV Is Made and Sold”, in New York Times. From the entry sketchlike
  • You can write the names on yourself, unless your tween or teen has terrific penpersonship.2004, Tara Aronson, Mrs. Clean Jeans’ Housekeeping with Kids: Family Pickup Lines (and Household Routines) That Work with Less Work from…. From the entry penpersonship
  • "Not many people know it, but the Fuhrer was a terrific dancer.2001 September 7, Richard Corliss, “That Old Feeling: Brooks to Broadway: Get Happy”, in Time. From the entry the pants off
  • For a terrific overview of rare vintage militarywear, dip into Kaufman’s Army & Navy.1998, New York, page 62. From the entry militarywear
  • The terrific seven-grain bread here is the kryptonite of restaurant reviewers: two mini-loaves and you are incapacitated.1991 October 25, Bryan Miller, “Restaurants: John Clancy's”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 12 Feb 2021. From the entry kryptonite
  • Somewhere in there is a terrific story idea; but it never jelled.1985, Larry Niven, Limits, page viii. From the entry jell
  • With each clap of thunder echoing from one high building to another the noise was terrific.1953 July, Allen Rowley, “First Impressions of American Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 493. From the entry thunder
  • This means just one thing: the instant contraterrene matter struck ordinary matter, a terrific explosion would occur!1952, Science Digest, volume 31, page 67. From the entry contraterrene
  • With a terrific reputation developed from last year it must surpass itself.1934 June 5, “World’s Greatest Carny: Chi Expo Opens Only 75% Ready […]”, in Variety, volume 114, number 12, New York, N.Y.: Variety…. From the entry headliney
  • The noise, the rush of air past our ears, was positively terrific.1927, Hugh Lofting, Doctor Dolittle’s Garden, Part Four, Chapter 6. From the entry numb
  • Yet fiercer the storm Shocks onward terrific — A thunderbolt falls! — Oaks crash down heart-shatter'd!1907, Edward Hardingham, Lays and legends of the forest of Essex. From the entry begather
  • In the very heart of the herd the din was terrific.1904, Jack London, chapter 30, in The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC. From the entry equanimity
  • Then she lurched forward at terrific speed.2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN. From the entry she
  • Victoria Jamieson's Newbery-Honor-winning debut graphic novel, "Roller Girl," was terrific; her "All's Faire in Middle School" is even better.2017 August 25, Marjorie Ingall, “Get Thee to Middle School! A Ren Faire Heroine Meets the Real World”, in The New York Times Book Review…. From the entry Renaissance faire
  • The downpour was terrific, and the lightning a blaze of light, intense, with thousands of flashes on the wagon-sheet.2012, J. Evetts Haley, Charles Goodnight: Cowman and Plainsman. From the entry wagon-sheet
  • The sand whiting feeds on nippers, pipis, prawns and especially beach, squirt or blood worms and all these make terrific baits.2006, Frank Prokop, Australian Fish Guide, 3rd edition, page 154. From the entry pipi
  • There are some terrific aircraft company names to choose.1999, Bernie Runstedler, Jr., Breezes Against My Brow, General Store Publishing House., →ISBN, page 77. From the entry Curtis
  • Some of Monica's chums are terrific pieces of homework.1994, Jonathan Meades, Pompey: A Novel, Unbound, published 2013, →ISBN. From the entry piece of homework
  • Early cars were cobby in appearance, but our recently produced test car looked terrific overall, and there's more dedication to come.1981, Car and Driver - Volume 27, page 5. From the entry cobby
  • "The diseasefulness is terrific," said the dusky Nabob.1973, Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Punch - Volume 264, page 689. From the entry diseasefulness
  • He'll put up a terrific kick, pass the buck to his kids, and put up a long run.1959 Oct, “Notes on these changing times”, in Herbert L. Brown, Jr., editor, The Kiplinger Magazine: Changing Times, volume 13, number 10…. From the entry armchair quarterback
  • The consumption rate of piano plinkers was terrific.1958, The MATS Flyer, volume 5, page 10. From the entry plinker
  • The activity, inside and out, is simply terrific.1953, General Motors Acceptance Corporation, General Exchange Insurance Corporation, Motors Insurance Corporation, News and Views, page 30. From the entry hypo
  • We were heading for England, which had undergone a terrific blitz and, as far as we knew, was still blitzable.1944, Bob Hope, I Never Left Home, page 16. From the entry blitzable
  • The small ships of the Nigrians were beginning to take a terrific toll in the thin ranks of the Solarians.1930 Fall, John Wood Campbell, “The Black Star Passes”, in Amazing Stories Quarterly, volume 3, number 4, page 521. From the entry Solarian
  • The cane was produced in court; it was as stout as an old-fashioned club, and of terrific weight.1904, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, “The Ayrsham Mystery”, in The Royal Magazine, volume XIII, London: C[yril] A[rthur] Pearson, →OCLC, chapter…. From the entry ferrule
  • Rather than the dramedic goo of so much streaming content, Succession holds open the gap between its hilarious jousts and its terrific stabs.2024, Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late Capitalism. From the entry dramedic

Meaning of terrific

  1. adjective Causing terror; terrifying.
  2. adjective Very strong or intense; excessive, tremendous.
  3. adjective Extremely good; excellent, amazing.

Full definition of terrific

Questions about terrific in a sentence

How do you use terrific in a sentence?
Terrific is used as an adjective. For example: “The car came round the bend at a terrific speed.”
What is a short sentence with terrific?
“I say! She's a terrific tennis player.”
What does terrific mean?
Terrific means causing terror; terrifying.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: terrific (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use terrific in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/terrific. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.