dreadfully
/ˈdrɛdfəli
/chiefly British
adverb
1 [often as submodifier] Extremely: you’re dreadfully thin I’m dreadfully sorry!...
- I am really, truly, extremely, dreadfully, horribly sorry!
- His behaviour was terrible and I am dreadfully sorry that you were exposed to it.
- I feel dreadfully sorry for her and I know Michael will be really upset about it.
Synonyms
extremely, very, really, frightfully, fearfully, exceedingly, immensely, terribly, exceptionally, uncommonly, remarkably, extraordinarily;
decidedly, most, positively, particularly;
Northern English right;
Scottish unco;
North American quite
informal terrifically, tremendously, desperately, awfully, devilishly, ultra, too … for words, mucho, mega, seriously, majorly, oh-so
British informal jolly, ever so, dead, well, fair
North American informal real, mighty, awful, plumb, powerful
South African informal lekker
informal, dated devilish, hellish
archaic exceeding, sore
very much, intensely, desperately, a great deal, a good deal, to a great extent, much, a lot, lots
1.1Very much: I’ll miss you dreadfully...
- Suddenly I thought that was unusual, because I realised that every time I've gone to the movies the past couple of months, I've missed her dreadfully as I'm going up into the car park.
- We are all very proud of Dan and his achievements in his short but very full life. We all miss him dreadfully.
- I love my job, relish the operational role and will no doubt miss it dreadfully.
2Very badly: the company has performed dreadfully...
- But isn't it refreshing to be able to tell you about two clubs with a good news story - even though both are performing somewhere between disappointingly and dreadfully on the field?
- It can be difficult when you miss your child all day to find they behave dreadfully when they get home.
Synonyms
terribly, awfully, very badly, atrociously, dismally, appallingly, abominably, execrably, poorly
informal abysmally, pitifully, crummily, diabolically, rottenly
rare egregiously