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.
Rebounding from dreadfully depressing injury news to knock out the NBA’s best rebounding team?
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 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
Drab, laborious and dreadfully predictable, the Bianconeri promised change but seem to be delivering much of the same, with fewer positive results.
From BBC ● Dec. 10, 2024
"This is plainly a dreadfully sad case," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2024
“I’m dreadfully sorry about my hair,” she said.
From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
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.
