incredibly

American  

[in-kred-uh-blee] / ɪnˈkrɛd ə bli /

adverb

1. in a way that is extraordinary, seemingly impossible, or difficult to believe; incredulously.

   Incredibly, we have already raised $750.

2. very; extremely.

   Your hair will be left incredibly soft, supple, and shiny.

   I found the incredibly uncomfortable seats a real distraction—tall people beware.

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Usage

Incredibly and, somewhat less commonly, incredulously can both be used to mean “unbelievably,” as in It was an incredulously/incredibly expensive flight. They both share the roots of in, meaning “not,” and crēdere, meaning “to believe,” so this shared meaning of “not able to be believed” is rooted in their etymology. Beware, however: they both also have other senses that are not synonyms. Incredibly can mean “very” or “extremely,” but incredulously is not used that way: This is an incredibly exciting moment for me. Incredulously can mean “disbelievingly,” but incredibly is not used that way: She stared at the painting incredulously, skeptical of its veracity .

Etymology

Origin of incredibly

First recorded in 1500–10; incredib(le) ( def. ) + -ly ( def. )

Explanation

You can use the adverb incredibly to mean "extremely," like your best friend's incredibly disturbing Halloween costume. The word incredibly describes anything that is so fantastic, you almost doubt it's real. You might describe an incredibly fast runner or your incredibly strange French teacher. Incredibly can also describe amazement, like incredibly, someone returned your missing wallet, with everything still in it. The Latin root is incredibilis, "that cannot be believed."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

incredibly

And, for others, there is a certain hubris seen in tech leaders chasing a technology that on one hand promises to make them incredibly wealthy while also suggesting it is only safe within their control.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

This is an unconscionable and incredibly serious situation.

From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2026

Ella Langley apologised to her fans, describing her decision as "incredibly difficult"

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

The bottom line: Yet again, we see that it’s incredibly difficult to beat a simple strategy of buying and holding a broad stock-market index fund.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026

That would be incredibly stupid since she’d done the exact same thing to me once.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Related Words

• especially
• fabulously
• strangely
• uncommonly