frighteningly
- adverb
- /ˈfraɪtənɪŋli/
- The roller coaster was frighteningly fast, leaving everyone screaming in terror as it plunged down.
- frighteningly high
And then the explosion itself is frighteningly convincing to me.
- And then the explosion itself is frighteningly convincing to me.
- And most frighteningly, are they still in charge right now?
- It's loud and the chassis gets frighteningly hot under load, but it's a lot better than I thought it would be.
Examples
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Science is sometimes frighteningly impersonal.
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The news of the approaching storm was frighteningly grim, causing everyone to prepare for the worst.
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You look, uh, frighteningly awake.
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Year after year, the public budget ends up with a frighteningly high deficit.
Academic text (1991) -
The stakes we are gambling are frighteningly high
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In the nine years that I have lived there, the number of homeless has grown frighteningly.
Academic text (1994) -
The multiverse is a concept about which we know frighteningly little.
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And more frighteningly, if Vince lied about this, what else did he lie about?
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And what had been seen as doomed campaigns on the fringes of society that could never win became frighteningly real.
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It's frighteningly real.
Synonyms
In a strange and frightening way
Shows that something is very bad, unpleasant, or extreme
In a way that makes people feel worried or afraid
In a way that makes you feel worried or uneasy
In a way that shows something bad will happen
In a way that seems likely to hurt or scare someone
In a way that is very frightening or very strong to show how serious something is
In a way that makes someone feel afraid or uncomfortable
In a way that makes you feel afraid or very worried
In a way that makes you feel afraid or very uncomfortable
In a way that makes people feel very afraid or shocked
In a way that is very shocking or frightening
In a way that makes people feel concerned
In a very bad and unpleasant way
In a way that makes people feel uneasy or confused
In a way that makes people worried or upset
In a way that makes people afraid
In a strange, frightening way that feels like a ghost
In a way that makes you feel worried or nervous
In a way that makes someone feel nervous or uneasy
In a way that causes great fear or pain
It happens in a very unpleasant and frightening way
In a way that seems evil or threatening
In a way that makes people feel nervous or unsure
Antonyms
How Scary
Surface Forms
Morphology
frighteningly = frightening (transparent) = frighten + ing + ly
Standard adverb formation from the adjective 'frightening' using the productive suffix '-ly'.
Etymology
Frighteningly comes from the simple word fright, meaning 'sudden fear', and the verb frighten, 'to make afraid', with the ending -ly that makes it mean 'in a ... way'. So frighteningly describes something done 'in a way that causes fear' or that is very alarming.