dreadfully

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English dredfully, dradefullich, dredefullich; equivalent to dreadful + -ly.

adv

  1. In a dreadful manner.
  2. (dated) Exceptionally, eminently, very much.
    That restaurant seems dreadfully expensive.
    At that moment a curious crack sounded inside the statue, as if something had broken. The fact is that the leaden heart had snapped right in two. It certainly was a dreadfully hard frost. 1888, Oscar Wilde, “The Happy Prince”, in The Happy Prince and Other Tales

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