Nefarious vs Terrible - What's the difference?
nefarious | terrible | Related terms |
Sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics.
* 1828 , , The Red Rover , ch. 2:
* 1877 , , The Life of Cicero , ch. 9:
* 1921 , , The Indiscretions of Archie , ch. 26:
* 2009 Oct. 14, Monica Davey, "
Dreadful; causing alarm and fear.
Formidable, powerful.
* 1883: (Robert Louis Stevenson), (Treasure Island)
Intense; extreme in degree or extent.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=18 Unpleasant; disagreeable.
* , chapter=12
, title= Very bad; lousy.
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 26, author=Tasha Robinson, work=The Onion AV Club
, title=
Nefarious is a related term of terrible.
As adjectives the difference between nefarious and terrible
is that nefarious is sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics while terrible is dreadful; causing alarm and fear.nefarious
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- "If the vessel be no fair-trading slaver, nor a common cruiser of his Majesty, it is as tangible as the best man's reasoning, that she may be neither more nor less than the ship of that nefarious pirate the Red Rover."
- Mommsen . . . declares that Catiline in particular was "one of the most nefarious' men in that ' nefarious age. His villanies belong to the criminal records, not to history."
- The fact that the room was still in darkness made it obvious that something nefarious was afoot. Plainly there was dirty work in preparation at the cross-roads.
Fact Checker Finds Falsehoods in Remarks," New York Times (retrieved 12 May 2014):
- “I try to let everyone back here in Minnesota know exactly the nefarious activities that are taking place in Washington.”
Usage notes
* Commonly used in contexts involving villainous plans, conspiracies, or actions, as in: :* 1909 , , The Lady of the Shroud , book 7: ::: The whole nefarious scheme was one of the "put-up jobs" which are part of the dirty work of a certain order of statecraft.Synonyms
* evil, iniquitous, sinister, underhanded, vile * See alsoDerived terms
* nefariously * nefariousnessReferences
*terrible
English
Adjective
(en-adj)- 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.
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?}}
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.}}
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.}}