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Webster 1913 Edition


Abysmally

A-bys′mal-ly

,
adv.
To a fathomless depth; profoundly.
Abysmally ignorant.”
G. Eliot.

Definition 2024


abysmally

abysmally

English

Adverb

abysmally (comparative more abysmally, superlative most abysmally)

  1. Very; incredibly; profoundly; to an extreme degree; dreadfully. [First attested in the late 19th century.][1]
    • (Can we date this quote?), George Eliot, (Please provide the title of the work):
      Abysmally ignorant
    • 2015 April 4, Judith Woods, “I knew it! Spring cleaning is bad for your family's health [print version: Vindicated at last! It's healthier to be a slatternly housewife, p. 28]”, in The Daily Telegraph, archived from the original on 9 April 2015:
      Am I alone in feeling smug (if slatternly) about the news that super-clean homes are a breeding ground for infection? Apparently, all that bleach is bad not just for germs but for children's immune systems, too, and paradoxically causes more disease than it prevents. Not round my gaff. Oh no. My standards of housekeeping are so abysmally low that my eldest daughter was three years old before she even developed a temperature.

Translations

References

  1. Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7), page 11