Meanings
comparative more unterrific · superlative most unterrific
- Unterrifying; not causing or involving terror.
It was like the dark, cold, but unterrific and comparatively soothing night, that succeeds to a day of storm and earthquake.
1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. […], volume IV, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 366 - Unexceptional, ordinary.
Of these the nearest — yet about twelve miles distant — is the before-named Brezon, a majestic, but unterrific, fortalice of cliff, forest, and meadow, with unseen nests of village, and unexpected balm and honey of garden and orchard nursed in its recesses.
1887, John Ruskin, Præterita: Outlines of Scenes and Thoughts, George Allen, pages 392–393
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Germanic*un-
- Proto-West Germanic*un-
- Old Englishun-
- Middle Englishun-
- Englishun-
- Proto-Indo-European*tres-
- Proto-Indo-European*troséyeti
- Proto-Italic*troseō
- Latinterreō
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
- Proto-Italic*θakos
- Latinterrificus
- Frenchterrifique
- Englishterrific
- Englishunterrific
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with unterrific
Cite this entry
unterrific. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unterrific
“unterrific.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unterrific. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unterrific,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unterrific.
Source: unterrific on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.