as in extremely
to a great degree
I'm awfully sorry
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Recent Examples of awfully
The classic bikini fairing harks back to the original café racer's front end, surrounding a pair of awfully low-slung clip-on handlebars and dual electronic clocks behind a compact visor.
—
New Atlas, 6 Mar. 2026
But the combination of naked ambition, absence of cynicism, and a sunny disposition seemed awfully suspicious.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 3 Mar. 2026
The dollars per share can be awfully confusing.
—Brian Welk, IndieWire, 27 Feb. 2026
Motta reluctantly agreed to be Bernie Bickerstaff’s top assistant, and to teach the Nuggets his offense — and the $300,000 salary looked awfully good.
—Brad Townsend, Dallas Morning News, 26 Feb. 2026
And Sweden came awfully close against the United States.
—Chris Pronger, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2026
The new club opening in Fort Worth is in an awfully competitive landscape.
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 Feb. 2026
That last part can be awfully hard to do.
—Diane Brady, Fortune, 6 Feb. 2026
With so many decisions to make, the Chiefs would have to get awfully creative to extend cornerback Trent McDuffie (who is entering the final year of his contract), which is why his name has floated in trade hypotheticals.
—Pete Sweeney, Kansas City Star, 5 Feb. 2026
New Atlas, 6 Mar. 2026
But the combination of naked ambition, absence of cynicism, and a sunny disposition seemed awfully suspicious.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 3 Mar. 2026
The dollars per share can be awfully confusing.
—Brian Welk, IndieWire, 27 Feb. 2026
Motta reluctantly agreed to be Bernie Bickerstaff’s top assistant, and to teach the Nuggets his offense — and the $300,000 salary looked awfully good.
—Brad Townsend, Dallas Morning News, 26 Feb. 2026
And Sweden came awfully close against the United States.
—Chris Pronger, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2026
The new club opening in Fort Worth is in an awfully competitive landscape.
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 Feb. 2026
That last part can be awfully hard to do.
—Diane Brady, Fortune, 6 Feb. 2026
With so many decisions to make, the Chiefs would have to get awfully creative to extend cornerback Trent McDuffie (who is entering the final year of his contract), which is why his name has floated in trade hypotheticals.
—Pete Sweeney, Kansas City Star, 5 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for awfully
Adverb
-
One of the more important revelations from Netanyahu’s press conference was about how the joint strikes with the United States, known as Operation Epic Fury, have been extremely effective at decimating Iran’s weapons.—
Washington Examiner Staff,
The Washington Examiner,
20 Mar. 2026
-
Yet, actual bones have been extremely rare.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
19 Mar. 2026
Adverb
-
After all, a sandy dance floor calls for a very different footwear strategy than a reception set atop a stone terrace—if shoes are required at all.—
Sarah Zendejas,
Vogue,
22 Mar. 2026
-
The start of the day seemed very normal to me.—
Peter Van Sant,
CBS News,
22 Mar. 2026
Adverb
-
In Geekbench, the A18 Pro’s single-core speeds weren't terribly far behind the A16’s multi-core<\/em> speeds.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
20 Mar. 2026
-
Also, stars in this frenzied state aren’t terribly stable; the fusion rate can be tempestuous, and the star undergoes incredibly violent paroxysms.—
Phil Plait,
Scientific American,
20 Mar. 2026
Adverb
-
The conditioner is incredibly moisturizing and the shampoo lathers up nicely.—
Catharine Malzahn,
Glamour,
18 Mar. 2026
-
That pricing makes scaling incredibly simple.—
Nishant Pant,
CNBC,
17 Mar. 2026
Adverb
-
Don’t worry too much about things being perfect, either.—
Tarot.com,
Sun Sentinel,
19 Mar. 2026
-
While humans can guide robots remotely, the process is mentally exhausting and often too slow to prevent sudden failures.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
19 Mar. 2026
Adverb
-
Graduate forward Marta Suárez acknowledged that TCU would have to contend with a strong Washington team, but pointed out that the Horned Frogs’ own highly potent offense had to be dealt with.—
Lawrence Dow,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
22 Mar. 2026
-
While these planets are expected to be extremely cold, their moons may experience intense tidal heating if their orbits become highly elongated.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
22 Mar. 2026
Adverb
-
But Cleveland State was, in fact, a damned good basketball team, as were most of the double-digit seed winners in NCAA Tournament history.—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
18 Mar. 2026
-
And damned if Love isn’t willing to talk, sometimes candidly and other times in maddeningly vague terms, about all the hell she’s gone through to get to right now.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
28 Jan. 2026
Adverb
-
Better inside than outside There is a growing bipartisan consensus that Mullin will replace Noem, who badly mismanaged her portfolio.—
Jeremy Lott,
The Washington Examiner,
20 Mar. 2026
-
Molliver said Liam is back in his suburban Minneapolis school, but that he and his father were badly shaken by their time in detention.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
20 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Awfully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/awfully. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
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