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Beastly vs Terrible - What's the difference?

beastly | terrible | Synonyms |

As adjectives the difference between beastly and terrible

is that beastly is pertaining to, or having the form, nature, or habits of, a beast while terrible is dreadful; causing alarm and fear.

As an adverb beastly

is like a beast; brutishly.

beastly

English

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • (UK) Pertaining to, or having the form, nature or habits of, a beast.
  • (UK) Characterizing the nature of a beast; contrary to the nature and dignity of man; brutal; filthy.
  • (UK, dated) Abominable.
  • beastly weather

    Usage notes

    Most often used pejoratively. is more narrow, though also often used pejoratively.

    Synonyms

    * (like a beast) bestial, animalian

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Like a beast; brutishly.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.8:
  • Beastly he threwe her downe, ne car'd to spill / Her garments gay with scales of fish that all did fill.
  • * 1901 , The Literary World - Volume 63 - Page 35:
  • They have insulted me most beastly . Moreover, they are, everyone of them, black-satan filthmen.

    terrible

    English

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Dreadful; causing alarm and fear.
  • Formidable, powerful.
  • * 1883: (Robert Louis Stevenson), (Treasure Island)
  • and there was even a party of the younger men who pretended to admire him, calling him a "true sea-dog," and "real old salt," and such-like names, and saying there was the sort of man that made England terrible at sea.
  • Intense; extreme in degree or extent.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=18 citation , passage=‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?}}
  • Unpleasant; disagreeable.
  • * , chapter=12
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=To Edward […] he was terrible , nerve-inflaming, poisonously asphyxiating. He sat rocking himself in the late Mr. Churchill's swing chair, smoking and twaddling.}}
  • Very bad; lousy.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 26, author=Tasha Robinson, work=The Onion AV Club
  • , title= Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits , passage=The openly ridiculous plot has The Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) scheming to win the Pirate Of The Year competition, even though he’s a terrible pirate, far outclassed by rivals voiced by Jeremy Piven and Salma Hayek.}}

    Synonyms

    * See also