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.
And this was a consummate display, cool and measured with a ruthless edge, even if it came against this dreadfully poor Spurs side.
From BBC • Feb. 22, 2026
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
"Many years ago people got the vote for us and that leaves me feeling dreadfully bad. But I really cannot vote for anybody."
From BBC • Jun. 20, 2024
Rarely in this series’ recent history has one club’s stock been so up, while the other’s has been so dreadfully down.
From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2024
It was simple and, since both Helmholtz and the Savage were dreadfully pained by the shattering and defilement of a favourite poetic crystal, extremely effective.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
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.
