Dreadfully, frightfully, terribly, grisly, horrifyingly, terrifyingly, and awfully are some of the over forty horribly synonyms we shall be considering herein. Let’s go head-on.
How to Pronounce Horribly
Using the Amr accent: haw·ruh·blee
British: ho·ruh·blee
Pronunciation/Transcription: hˈɔrəbli
(The transcription above is expected to help you pronounce the word properly; where /ɔ/ is pronounced in a similar way to the o in or, and the /ə/ is pronounced as the le in able)
40 Horribly Synonyms
- Atrociously
- Horrifically
- Horrendously
- Poorly
- Appallingly
- Rottenly
- Shockingly
- Badly
- Dismally
- Fearfully
- Disturbingly
- Alarmingly
- Detestably
- Tragically
- Grisly
- Very
- Monstrously
- Hideously
- Miserably
- Execrably
- Intolerably
- Woefully
- Unsatisfactorily
- Grossly
- Offensively
- Egregiously
- Wickedly
- Reprehensibly
- Abysmally
- Incredibly
- Naughtily
- Colossally
- Damnably
- Unbearably
- Severely
- Exceptionally
- Fiercely
- Tremendously
- Archly
- Unspeakably
Some other synonyms for horribly include:
Exceedingly, shoddily, intensely, vilely, meagerly, desperately, inferiorly, skimpily, greatly, flagrantly, excessively.
What Does Horribly Mean?
The adverbial word horribly is in its simplest form referring to a horrible manner. This means it is impossible to grasp the concept of the word without first understanding its root; horrible, which it amplifies.
It is possible to have horrible as both an adjective and a noun, where it means extremely bad and an object, a thing, event, or action that causes terror, respectively.
You would notice that contrary to some of the synonymous words you saw on our list, the definitions of horrible here are only in the negative sense. You might have as well seen the word horribly used in a positive sense before now.
The reason for this is basically because quite loosely, we could use horribly rhetorically and colloquially. In this case, you refer to horribly as an extreme extent or degree, as Wiktionary put it in its definition number 2 of the word.
So an example sentence for this may be: “She is horribly wealthy, yet the man refuses to get engaged with her.”
Read Also: 30 Prose Synonyms
The Origin of the Word
Horribly is from the word Horrible, so we shall be examining the etymology of its root.
Horrible has reportedly made its way from the Latin word horribilis, in dissection: horr (tremble) and ibilis (-ible) to old French horrible, sometimes orible or orrible, sometime in the year 1303.
Aside from horribly, some other forms of the root word Horrible are horribility, horribleness, horribler, horriblest, and horribles.
Example Sentences
With some of the following examples, you should be able to properly use horribly in the English language.
- I had every right to kick her out; she acted horribly whenever she was drunk.
- The experiment keeps going horribly wrong.
- I cannot stand being so horribly maltreated; I’d better struggle to survive on my own.
- She is not horribly slow.
- We can only imagine how horribly painful it would be.
Horribly Antonyms
Some opposite words we could use for horribly are:
- Pleasingly
- Nicely
- Acceptably
- Suitably
- Pleasurably
- Satisfactorily
- Decently
- Delightfully
- Rightly
- Pleasantly
- Gratifyingly
Learn, finally, that the use of these synonymous or antonymous words depends majorly on context. Just as you must have learned, synonymous words are not necessarily exact words. In fact, they just aren’t. So, pay attention to how you use the words.
By the way, terribly is likely the closest to horribly in scope, so it’s my best synonym for horribly.
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