Ask the Editor
What's the difference between words like superb, outstanding, and terrific?
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See Also
William Florian - Testimonials and Thank You Notes for One of America's Greatest PerformersWhat Makes a High Performer and How to Become One - Timeular40 Ways to Say ‘Good Job’ – Women's Leadership TodayAudience EtiquetteReza
,
Iran
Answer
Superb, outstanding, and terrific are synonyms for very good. And there are many otherwords in English that can have the same meaning. All ten words belowcan be used to mean very good or excellent.
- awesome
- amazing
- fabulous
- fantastic
- excellent
- great
- incredible
- outstanding
- superb
- terrific
These wordscan be used insimilar ways. For example, any of the words abovecanbe used in sentences like these:
You’ve done an awesome job!
Her latest work is fantastic.
However, there are also differences in their use. Here are some usage patterns to be aware of:
- Great has the lowest intensity or strength. However, if it is spoken with enthusiastic intonation, it will have added intensity.
- Awesome is the most informal, and younger people are most likely to use it.
- Older adults are more likely than younger people to use outstanding, superb, and terrific.
- As an exclamation, speakers are most likely to use amazing, fantastic, or great as in, “That’s amazing!”
- Great can be used sarcastically, as in this dialogue:
A: I can’t find the tickets.
B: Oh great, now what are we going to do? - Terrific, amazing, and incredibleare notalways used to describe something that is good. They are occasionally used to describe something that is very bad or hard to believe, asin these examples:
- We were hit by a terrific snowstorm last week. (terrific=terrible)
- He showed an amazing lack of concern for others. (amazing=unbelievable)
- It's incredible to me that such a lazy person could be so successful. (incredible=unbelievable)
I hope this helps to answer your question.
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