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'Terrifically' is an adverb meaning 'very' or 'extremely', used to make an adjective stronger: terrifically expensive, terrifically clever, terrifically funny. It carries a warm, slightly feeling — the speaker is impressed. It is close to 'incredibly' or 'tremendously' and a bit old-fashioned and British-sounding; it is more likely in writing, in reviews, or from an older speaker than in a young person's chat. A second use, less common, means 'in a way that is wonderful': 'the team played terrifically'. Here is the messy part worth knowing. The word comes from 'terror' and once meant 'in a way'. English quietly turned that fear into strength — the same thing happened to 'terribly' (terribly sorry), 'awfully' (awfully kind) and 'dreadfully'. Today 'terrifically' has almost no fear left in it, though it usually keeps a positive or at least neutral colour, while 'terribly' leans a bit more negative. So 'terrifically hot' sounds like enjoyable excitement about heat; 'terribly hot' sounds like a complaint.
非常、極為、好得不得了。語氣偏正面、帶點讚嘆,跟中文的「超級」「棒極了」接近;不要理解成「可怕地」。
組成From 'terrific' plus the adverb ending '-ally'. 'Terrific' goes back through French to Latin 'terrificus' — 'causing terror' — from 'terrere', to frighten.
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,原文照列,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
terrificallyadv
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In a terrific or extreme way.
- "The test was terrifically hard," said the tired student.
- Upon examination it was found that a large breakage had been made, directly under their bows, and the sea was rushing in terrifically.
資料來源:英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary(CC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。