something terrible
A dreadful occurrence
Something terrible is an unspecified but serious misfortune or calamity: I knew something terrible had happened when I saw her face.
The phrase often appears in warnings or premonitions: If we don't leave now, something terrible will happen.
It can also express understatement when the terrible thing is already known: The doctors said something terrible—the cancer had spread.
- cruelWillfully causing suffering
- dreadfulCausing great fear or suffering
- awfulExtremely bad quality
- gone wrongDeviated from intended outcome
- train wreckUtter chaotic disaster
cataclysmic · catastrophe · act of God · frightful · calamity · atrocity · crime against humanity · horrific · horror · nightmare · massacre · blood on hands · annihilation · carnage · barbarity · disaster · worst nightmare · obliteration