dreadfully
adv/ˈdɹɛd.fʊl.i/
Etymology Inherited from Middle English dredfully, dradefullich, dredefullich; equivalent to dreadful + -ly.
1
In a dreadful manner; terribly.
- You behaved dreadfully yesterday night
- The smellful old heathen was snoring dreadfully.1931, Ion L. Idriess, Lasseter's Last Ride, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 222:
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:
1 more example
- “Here it is,” said Eddie. “‘Why Must it Always be Tomato Soup?’ It's so deeply true, don't you feel? Tomato soup is so dreadfully eternal.”1918 August, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Bliss”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, pages 135–136: