dreadfully
Americanadverb
-
in a dreadful way.
The pain has increased dreadfully.
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very; extremely.
Sorry to be so dreadfully late.
adverb
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in a shocking, or disagreeable manner
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(intensifier)
you're dreadfully kind
Etymology
Origin of dreadfully
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
So music breaks down barriers, as characters keep telling us in a dreadfully blunt script: “This isn’t the mill, this is the choral. And we’re all equal here.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 24, 2025
Jane and daughter Megan took part in 2019, but she admitted they did "dreadfully", adding: "We lost £155."
From BBC • Mar. 13, 2025
“When you get such interesting and amusing film roles, it doesn’t seem dreadfully exciting to be in the 257th revival of ‘The Rivals,’” she said.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 17, 2025
United started dreadfully and went into a rapid decline, somehow surviving until half-time as Spurs carved them open on countless occasions but could not add a second.
From BBC • Sep. 29, 2024
Negotiating the serrated ridge presents no great technical hurdles, but the route is dreadfully exposed.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
