different between terrific vs onerous

English

Alternative forms

• terrifick (obsolete)

Etymology

From French terrifique, and its source, Latin terrificus (“terrifying”), from terrere (“to frighten, terrify”) + -ficus, from facere (“to make”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t????f?k/
• Rhymes: -?f?k

Adjective

terrific (comparative more terrific, superlative most terrific)

1. (now rare) Terrifying, causing terror; terrible; sublime, awe-inspiring. [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:frightening

   • 1796–7, Mary Wollstonecraft, The Wrongs of Woman, Oxford 2009, p. 83:

     [T]he dismal shrieks of demoniac rage […] roused phantoms of horror in her mind, far more terrific than all that dreaming superstition ever drew.

   • 1821, Charles Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer, volume 2, page 154:

     Think of wandering amid sepulchral ruins, of stumbling over the bones of the dead, of encountering what I cannot describe,—the horror of being among those who are neither the living or the dead;—those dark and shadowless things that sport themselves with the reliques of the dead, and feast and love amid corruption,—ghastly, mocking, and terrific.
2. Very strong or intense; excessive, tremendous. [from 18th c.]

   The car came round the bend at a terrific speed.

   I've got a terrific hangover this morning.
3. Extremely good; excellent, amazing. [from 19th c.]

   I say! She's a terrific tennis player.

Synonyms

• brilliant
• horrific

Related terms

• terrible
• terrify
• terrifying
• terror
• terrorist
• terrorize

Translations

Further reading

• terrific in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• terrific in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• ferritic

English

Etymology

From Middle English onerous, from Middle French onereux, from Old French onereus, from Latin onerosus (“burdensome”), from onus (“load”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??n???s/, /???n???s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??n???s/, /?o?n???s/

Adjective

onerous (comparative more onerous, superlative most onerous)

1. imposing or constituting a physical, mental, or figurative load which can be borne only with effort; burdensome.
   • 1820, Washington Irving, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow":

     That all this might not be too onerous on the purses of his rustic patrons, who are apt to consider the costs of schooling a grievous burden, and schoolmasters as mere drones, he had various ways of rendering himself both useful and agreeable.

   • 1910, Jack London, "The Golden Poppy" in Revolution and Other Essays:

     [I]t has become an onerous duty, a wearisome and distasteful task.

Synonyms

• (burdensome): demanding, difficult, taxing, wearing

Derived terms

• onerously

Related terms

Translations

Middle English

Alternative forms

• honerous, onerose, onerouse

Etymology

From Middle French onereux, from Old French onereus, from Latin onerosus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n??ru?s/, /??n?rus/

Adjective

onerous

1. (Late Middle English) onerous

Descendants

• English: onerous

References

• “oner?us, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-1-7.