frighteningly
adverb
Simple meaning
In an alarming way.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
frytuhnihngleeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɹaɪtənɪŋli
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adverb
In a frightening or terrifying manner.
In an alarming manner
“The disturbing thing about the Minister's behavior is that far from being artificial, it too often rings frighteningly true.”
Very; beyond usual expectation so as to cause surprise or concern.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: In a frightening or terrifying manner.
Used this way, frighteningly is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It sounds natural in ordinary conversation and in expressive writing alike.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use frighteningly
- “The disturbing thing about the Minister's behavior is that far from being artificial, it too often rings frighteningly true.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The act of inspiring with fear.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.