Dreadfully

//ˈdɹɛd.fʊl.i// adv

adv ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    In a dreadful manner; terribly.

    "You behaved dreadfully yesterday night"

  2. 2
    Exceptionally, eminently, very much. dated

    "That restaurant seems dreadfully expensive."

Adverb
  1. 1
    of a dreadful kind wordnet
  2. 2
    in a dreadful manner wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abominablyagonizinglyalarminglyappallinglyastoundinglyatrociously

Example

More examples

"I'm a dreadfully wicked and ungrateful girl, and I deserve to be punished and cast out by respectable people forever."

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English dredfully, dradefullich, dredefullich; equivalent to dreadful + -ly.

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