as in drearily
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Recent Examples of distressingly
More distressingly, their 11 losses last season didn’t just mark the head coach’s first losing season since his tenure in Kansas City began in 2013.
—
Kansas City Star, 1 Mar. 2026
The pipeline of new antibiotics remains distressingly thin, and most drugs currently in development are structurally similar to existing antibiotics, potentially limiting their effectiveness.
—André O. Hudson, The Conversation, 21 Jan. 2026
That can be forgiven thanks to the film’s evocative imagery and the emotional resonance of its central themes, distressingly familiar to anyone who has ever lost themselves in a relationship.
—Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 10 Dec. 2025
The running game is a mess, Carson Wentz is often running for his life, and the defense proved distressingly vulnerable to big plays in last weekend’s 28-22 loss to Philadelphia.
—Pioneer Press, Twin Cities, 23 Oct. 2025
Advertisement Opioid addiction is distressingly common in nearly every contact and combat sport, but Kerr was isolated from the endemic abuse of painkillers in the industry.
—Rory Doherty, Time, 5 Sep. 2025
Naturally, the theft of the ghost shirt by the stooges in the employ of Roy Lee is accompanied by many deceased bodies — the first of the many bloodbaths in Americana, which has a distressingly expedient approach to on-screen carnage.
—Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 22 Aug. 2025
Second, the book helps dispel conspiracy theories, now distressingly common among Iranians, that propose that the shah’s overthrow was secretly planned and carefully orchestrated by President Jimmy Carter.
—Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 5 Aug. 2025
Kansas City Star, 1 Mar. 2026
The pipeline of new antibiotics remains distressingly thin, and most drugs currently in development are structurally similar to existing antibiotics, potentially limiting their effectiveness.
—André O. Hudson, The Conversation, 21 Jan. 2026
That can be forgiven thanks to the film’s evocative imagery and the emotional resonance of its central themes, distressingly familiar to anyone who has ever lost themselves in a relationship.
—Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 10 Dec. 2025
The running game is a mess, Carson Wentz is often running for his life, and the defense proved distressingly vulnerable to big plays in last weekend’s 28-22 loss to Philadelphia.
—Pioneer Press, Twin Cities, 23 Oct. 2025
Advertisement Opioid addiction is distressingly common in nearly every contact and combat sport, but Kerr was isolated from the endemic abuse of painkillers in the industry.
—Rory Doherty, Time, 5 Sep. 2025
Naturally, the theft of the ghost shirt by the stooges in the employ of Roy Lee is accompanied by many deceased bodies — the first of the many bloodbaths in Americana, which has a distressingly expedient approach to on-screen carnage.
—Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 22 Aug. 2025
Second, the book helps dispel conspiracy theories, now distressingly common among Iranians, that propose that the shah’s overthrow was secretly planned and carefully orchestrated by President Jimmy Carter.
—Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 5 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for distressingly
Adverb
-
The Sierra Nevada mountains were replenished after seeing a dismally low snowpack to start the year, and snow even temporarily closed Yosemite National Park.—
Terry Castleman,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Feb. 2026
-
In this regard, ICE and the federal government have failed dismally.—
The Atlantic,
The Atlantic,
26 Jan. 2026
Adverb
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If that were true, record numbers of small owners wouldn’t be staring down foreclosure and bankruptcy due to past rent freezes and years of miniscule rent adjustments that failed miserably to address across-the-board increases in building operating costs and expenses.—
Ann Korchak,
New York Daily News,
23 Mar. 2026
-
Her strategy failed miserably as lawmakers refused to give in to her demands.—
Joe Battenfeld,
Boston Herald,
21 Feb. 2026
Adverb
-
Some of the strangest relationships of obligation are with our coworkers, something the darkly comedic novel The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge explores in very high stakes.—
James Folta,
Literary Hub,
25 Mar. 2026
-
Sometimes darkly humorous, sometimes strangely heartbreaking, this immersive storytelling experience is Edgar Allan Poe for the modern age; a heart-to-bleeding-heart with madmen, murderers and monsters all dying to tell their story.—
William Earl,
Variety,
25 Mar. 2026
Adverb
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What at first appears to be a run-of-the-mill trauma drama about a family dealing with the eldest child’s anorexia nervosa gradually evolves into something odder and more original, even blackly comic, in Ungrateful Beings.—
Leslie Felperin,
HollywoodReporter,
25 Sep. 2025
Adverb
-
War of the Worlds star Ice Cube now has another reason to stare forlornly at his computer.—
Erik Pedersen,
Deadline,
13 Mar. 2026
-
One of the most affecting shots shows McCartney glancing forlornly at a seat beside him at the mixing desk.—
Jordan Runtagh,
PEOPLE,
27 Nov. 2025
Adverb
-
In Time Regained, the concluding volume of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, an older version of the narrator gloomily decides to attend a gathering at the Guermantes’ mansion.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 Mar. 2026
Adverb
-
Then there is the steady stream of profiles on tech billionaires joylessly devoting themselves to maximizing their lifespan.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
3 Jan. 2026
Adverb
-
For example, professors Morana Koludrovic and Franceska Delija at the University of Split in Croatia also make the point, more pessimistically, however, that the young can no longer learn from the old, not with all the changes in technology and media.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
20 Feb. 2026
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Look pessimistically, and perhaps the inexperience is too much of a barrier.—
Jake Ciely,
New York Times,
20 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Distressingly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/distressingly. Accessed 2 Apr. 2026.
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