fearfully
part of speech
adverb
meaning for a pupil
1) In a frightened or worried way. tree →
2) (old-fashioned, UK) Very or extremely: «fearfully clever». tree →
3) In a way that is frightening to see. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories it shows how a character acts when scared: «she looked fearfully at the door». In old-fashioned British talk it can simply mean «very». Phrases: look fearfully, whisper fearfully, fearfully sorry.
examples
- The kitten peeped fearfully out from under the bed. tree →
- He whispered fearfully, «Did you hear that noise?» tree →
- The children looked fearfully at the dark cave. tree →
- She stepped fearfully onto the wobbly bridge. tree →
- I'm fearfully sorry for being late, said the old gentleman. tree →
- The little boy held his mother's hand fearfully during the storm. tree →
- His jaws were open, his tongue hung from his mouth, and his eyes glared fearfully. tree →
note
Adjective: fearful (afraid, or causing fear). Similar: nervously, anxiously. Opposite: bravely, boldly, fearlessly. The «very» sense sounds old-fashioned and posh.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «fearfully» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.