dreadfully
Americanadverb
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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
“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
Andrew Moll, the chief inspector of Marine Accidents, said it was a "cruel lesson of how rapidly things can go dreadfully wrong".
From BBC • Nov. 13, 2024
At this point in the act the penguins always forgot their discipline and got dreadfully excited.
From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Florence Atwater and Richard Atwater
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.
