Definitions

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

  • adverb In a frightening or terrifying manner.
  • adverb Very; beyond usual expectation so as to cause surprise or concern.

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

  • adverb in an alarming manner

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From frightening +‎ -ly.

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Examples

  • For her Halloween special this year (airing Sunday at 9/8c on Hallmark Channel), homemaking guru Martha Stewart stirs up some mischief with Mummy star Brendan Fraser and shows us how to celebrate the holiday in frighteningly fun fashion.

    Martha Stewart Previews Her Halloween Special 2010

  • Note the use of the word "recover," a word frighteningly close in meaning to the word "cure."

    DISABLED VETERANS TAKING "FRIENDLY FIRE" 2005

  • She kept looking at the magazine as if it were just another issue of Newsweek, her expression frighteningly passive.

    Deal Breaker Coben, Harlan, 1962- 1995

  • Kristina will also hire Amber Mae Whitman to assist Little, who's described as "frighteningly young and attractive."

    Black Donnellys' Jonathan Tucker Heading to Parenthood 2011

  • I grew up in a part of the word frighteningly overpopulated with snooty institutions of higher ed, and in my hometown rankings were everything, so CCs weren't on the horizon.

    To the rescue! Prof. de Breeze 2008

  • Sony has produced what can only be described as a frighteningly awesome "mechanical heart" built for ads that will be aired during England's World Cup qualifying campaign.

    Medgadget 2009

  • We bring you a deeper look inside the health insurance industry, including the dark side of prescription drug coupons, a story about pet health insurance, and insurance company jargon frighteningly decoded.

    KUOW 94.9 Puget Sound Public Radio 2009

  • He is a career prosecutor with a reputation for being not only "frighteningly" brilliant but fearless, and with a driving passion for determining the truth, their most mortal enemy.

    THE COMING HURRICANE FITZGERALD... 2005

  • And it was sort of touching, but kind of frighteningly grandiose that he would have claimed false credit or blame for -- for -- for some of this

    Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama - The climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution 2001

  • Later, describing the scale of the funeral, Andrew Young wrote that the assembly was “frighteningly enormous.”

    Burial for a King Rebecca Burns 2011

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