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

Segall called it “irresponsible and incredibly unlikely” to suggest the nonprofit was working to benefit hate groups rather than expose their activities.

From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026

“We believe that Reddit remains incredibly under-monetized relative to peers and has positioned itself as a human-first social platform that will continue to attract more users and advertisers as it scales,” D.A.

From Barron's • Apr. 30, 2026

"We show that development can achieve this feat of organizing a thousand different smell receptors into an incredibly precise map that's consistent across animals," Datta said.

From Science Daily • Apr. 30, 2026

By this point the business empire had become incredibly complicated: it comprised dozens of companies, from Samsung Electronics to retail; construction to chemicals.

From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026

She’s got that stupidly perfect, straight, honey-gold hair and is pale and incredibly pretty—random people have stopped her to ask if she’s a model.

From "Blended" by Sharon M. Draper

Related Words

• especially
• fabulously
• strangely
• uncommonly