Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In a frightful manner; dreadfully; terribly.
  • Intolerably; shockingly; hideously; exceedingly.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb In a frightful manner; to a frightful dagree.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb In a frightful manner.
  • adverb Very, extremely.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb used as intensifiers

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Their outlook towards a venomous German attempt to do something "frightfully" nasty, is very similar to a large and powerful nurse dealing with a fractious child -- sort of: "Now, then, Master Frankie, you mustn't kick and scream like that."

    Bullets & Billets Bruce Bairnsfather

  • She, too, was in debt; "frightfully," her husband had used the right word;

    International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1, No. 3, Oct. 1, 1850 Various

  • Lots of them, of course, were frightfully swell (Betty annexed "frightfully" at school, by the by) and had all sorts of clothes; but Betty was perfectly content with her modest outfit, and none of the other girls seemed to mind how she dressed.

    The Fortune Hunter Louis Joseph Vance 1906

  • She, too, was in debt; "frightfully" her husband had used the right word; "hopelessly" so far as satisfying her creditors, even out of the large allowance Mr. Ferrars made her; and still she had not the courage voluntarily to tell the truth, which yet she knew must burst upon him ere long.

    The Wedding Guest 1847

  • 'frightfully' something or other during the evening.

    The Head of the House of Coombe Frances Hodgson Burnett 1886

  • "In all spheres of social, economic and political relationships we are 'frightfully' revolutionary.

    ANC Today 2006

  • Tudor, having pulled through the fever and started to mend, was still frightfully weak and very much starved.

    Chapter 24 2010

  • I'm afraid France took engravings and etchings, while it was a frightfully disappointing year for reliefs, with no gold medal awarded at all.

    Pole dancing seeks an Olympic leg-up | Marina Hyde 2011

  • The latter is especially inviting, as Dark Horse Comics released three frightfully king-sized collections in time for All Hallow's Eve.

    October 2009 2009

  • Hardly deserving of 'the most trusted man in America' moniker either; history has shown that he was frightfully deceitful.

    Who Should Be The Next Administrator of NASA? - NASA Watch 2009

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