eye-wateringly
adv1
In a manner or to a degree that causes one’s eyes to water or tear up, often due to an emotional situation or sentimental feelings, or due to shocking or exciting events.
- Another Indonesian soup, asam shrimp […], includes incredibly fresh shrimp in their shells and okra in a tamarind broth that is wonderfully tart and sweet and eye-wateringly spicy.1994 April 8, Eric Asimov, “Arts”, in New York Times:
- It is first and foremost a literary prize, something I have to keep telling myself after reading the umpteenth eye-wateringly explicit gay sex scene.2012 June 7, Suzi Feay, “Where are the new UK lesbian writers?”, in The Guardian:
3 more examples
- […] there are ladylike looks from Dior and Lanvin sitting alongside more rock’n’roll (and eye wateringly expensive) Balenciaga and Balmain pastel leather bombers and luxe denims.2013 October 27, Alison Taylor, “Riga, Warsaw and Bucharest: the new frontiers of fashion”, in Daily Telegraph:
- […] the story gave way to a lot of gung-ho nonsense about insurgents, some sub-Loaded male bonding and an eyewateringly terrible final act.2015 December 21, Phil De Semlyen, “The Worst Movies of 2015”, in Empire:
- 2016, David Robert Grimes, quoted in Abby Ohlheiser, “Why the Internet’s biggest conspiracy theories don’t make mathematical sense,” Washington Post, 28 January, 2016, I hope that by showing how eye-wateringly unlikely some alleged conspiracies are, some people will reconsider their anti-science beliefs.