appallingly

adverb

Definition of appallinglynext
as in horribly

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of appallingly West Ham are relegated, sorry Spurs survive The odds were stacked against West Ham United beating relegation yesterday and even in a year when Tottenham Hotspur plumbed appallingly abject depths, few clubs deserved it more. — Phil Hay, New York Times, 25 May 2026 With respect to humor’s inherent subjectivity, the appallingly ugly aesthetics of the AI overwhelm any possible comedic sensibility on display. — Vikram Murthi, IndieWire, 15 May 2026 Democrats appallingly gamed the system early on by inserting their activists (rather than fair-minded community members) on the map-drawing panels. — Steven Greenhut, Oc Register, 12 Oct. 2025 But the rest of the movie is straight-faced, as though its story of two reckless sociopaths vying to destroy the world in their respective modes weren’t appallingly depressing. — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 7 Oct. 2025 This subtle bait and switch from a national identity crisis to a personal identity crisis is imaginative and, for a time, intriguing, with Gadebois doing some very heavy lifting as the bad guy that means well but, nevertheless, behaves appallingly. — Damon Wise, Deadline, 28 Aug. 2025 The novel was adapted into a successful play, and Carson followed it with two sequels, before her death from cancer, in 1941, by which time the prescience of her fiction had become appallingly evident. — Rebecca Mead, New Yorker, 19 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for appallingly
  1. horribly
  2. terribly
  3. awfully
  4. dreadfully
  5. horrendously
  6. sickeningly
  7. disturbingly
  8. alarmingly
Adverb
  • Markos takes revenge by slicing up Matt’s face with a switchblade, leaving him horribly disfigured and his acting career essentially over.
    — Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Nature created measles, modern science found the vaccine to stop it cold and end it forever and now horribly, Bobby Kennedy has brought it roaring back.
    — New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of horribly
Adverb
  • That’s not terribly surprising given the two teams have clashed multiple times over the past 25 years of Xbox.
    — Tom Warren, The Verge, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Conservation can go terribly wrong if local communities aren’t consulted during planning.
    — David Ginsburg, The Conversation, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of terribly
Adverb
  • The company hopes to make diagnostic testing cheaper and more accessible — a mission that may sound awfully familiar to anyone who followed the rise and fall of Theranos.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2026
  • If anything, Trump’s escalating attempts to strong-arm people into a supposedly nicer term for AI makes him — and the industry itself — look awfully weak.
    — Adi Robertson, The Verge, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of awfully
Adverb
  • Rooms in Blocks 8 and 9 are closest to reception, and the swimming pool, but no walk is dreadfully far (especially considering the interesting animals that meander the pathways).
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Although Yamaha has been dreadfully slow about bringing its motorcycles to India, the R2 made its global debut there this week.
    — Yamaha, New Atlas, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of dreadfully
Adverb
  • The less said about Bryan’s horrendously gauche fuchsia-and-gold dress with puffy armholes and halter neck the better.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 31 July 2026
  • Too little regulation could allow the unleashing of devilish AI that might wipe us out or at least be horrendously destructive.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
Definition of horrendously
Adverb
  • And yet, Paul can’t help but impose and offend, making even his expertise in home security sickeningly useless.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 22 July 2026
  • The rungs were slippery with rain, and the bridge wobbled sickeningly with each step.
    — Robert Moor, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026
Definition of sickeningly
Adverb
  • Garfield is disturbingly riveting as Altman, with his hypnotizing performance painting the most damning picture of the OpenAI CEO yet in any form of media.
    — Hayden Field, The Verge, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Altercations between agitated people with dementia and other residents or workers charged with caring for them are disturbingly common in long-term care facilities and private homes.
    — Jordan Rau, NPR, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of disturbingly
Adverb
  • Those copious field reports, sworn affidavits, and telegrams signed, alarmingly, HOOVER, would fascinate, enrage, and unmoor me.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 Oct. 2026
  • The most infamous alignment risk experiment was one Anthropic conducted in early 2025, in which the company’s researchers found evidence that Claude and other leading AI models were alarmingly fond of blackmail.
    — Kevin Roose, Vanity Fair, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of alarmingly

Browse Nearby Words

appalling
appallingly
appalls
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Appallingly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/appallingly. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of milieu

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All