awfully
Americanadverb
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very; extremely.
That was awfully nice of you. He's awfully slow.
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in a manner provoking censure, disapproval, or the like.
She behaved awfully all evening.
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Archaic.
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in a manner inspiring awe.
shouting awfully the dreaded curse.
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in a manner expressing awe.
to stare awfully.
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adverb
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in an unpleasant, bad, or reprehensible manner
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informal (intensifier)
I'm awfully keen to come
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archaic so as to express or inspire awe
Commonly Confused
See awful.
Etymology
Origin of awfully
Explanation
Use the adverb awfully to emphasize something, or to mean "very." You might say that you'd love to live in New York City, but it's awfully expensive. The word awfully is most often used for emphasis, as a way to say "extremely," "immensely," or "highly." Your newborn nephew might be awfully cute, or your surprise birthday party might be awfully fun. You can also use the word to mean "dreadfully" or "terribly," as in "My team played just awfully, so I wasn't surprised when they lost the game." The original meaning was "inspiring awe" or "inspiring reverence."
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.
A 10-year Treasury yielding more than 5% starts looking awfully attractive to retirees, pension funds, insurers, foreign institutions and anyone else searching for dependable income.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
The Scott McTominay overhead kick, the Kieran Tierney wonder goal, the Kenny McLean shot from the other end of the world seem like an awfully long time ago now.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
That’s an awfully big threat, you might think, but the president is way ahead of you.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026
And at $2.50, blank space begins to look awfully compelling.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
‘Gosh, honey,’ he says ‘that’s an awfully big word for an eight-year-old.’
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
