adv ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adverb

1. 1
   In a shocking manner.

   "He had thinned shockingly, losing 100 pounds in the last month of his illness."

2. 2
   To a shocking degree.

   "Their efforts were shockingly slipshod."

Adverb

1. 1
   so as to shock the feelings wordnet
2. 2
   to a shocking degree wordnet
3. 3
   very badly wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

agonizinglyatrociouslyawfullybitterlyblatantlycruelly

Example

More examples

"Shockingly, there have been at least five attempted escapes from a “red zone” around 10 locked-down Lombardy towns."

Etymology

From shocking + -ly.

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