My favourite subject, words

They got it wrong though.
Terrific - means huge. Have you ever heard it used to mean terrifying? Not common in aus or uk, may usa?
Travesty - you tend to bend it into tragedy, that is human. We bend it because it is often used in tragic circumstances.
EG Islamic state is a travesty of any sense of true religion or true democracy - resulting in tragedy.
And both words relay a kind of shock and awe in humans to horror & injustice, a common phrase being a travesty of justice.
Words do change meanings over time - only terrific and travesty on that list are a bit in flux.
I mean, common usage of terrific is now acceptable as praise for something, not even an English teacher is likely to correct you for that.
We have bent the proper meaning from something huge/enormous literally to a big emotion, a terrific time we had.
Oxford the word bible, accepts all 3.
ADJECTIVE
size,
amount, or
intensity:
there was a terrific bang
excellent:
it’s been such a terrific dayyou look terrific
Causing terror:
his body presented a terrific emblem of death