Awfully

//ˈɔfəli// adv

adv ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    Badly, terribly.

    "She led after the swimming and cycling, but ran awfully and came in fourth."

  2. 2
    Very; exceedingly; extremely; excessively. not-comparable

    "It was wondrous. 'I'm awfully glad I came now,' his thought ran; 'I'm managing it rather well.'"

  3. 3
    In a manner inspiring awe. archaic
  4. 4
    Reverently. archaic
  5. 5
    Fearfully. obsolete

    "I returned to the inn yard, and, impressed by my remembrance of the face, looked awfully around for it. It was not there."

Adverb
  1. 1
    used as intensifiers wordnet
  2. 2
    in a terrible manner wordnet
  3. 3
    of a dreadful kind wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
atrociouslydreadfullyfrightfullyveryabominablyabominably

Example

More examples

"It's awfully cold this evening."

Etymology

From awful + -ly.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.