Dictionary

distressingly en · ADV

Etymology

Etymology tree English distressing Middle English -ly English -ly English distressingly From distressing + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a distressing manner; so as to cause distress.
   • All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill.[…]Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion—or rather as a transition from the subject that started their conversation—such talk had been distressingly out of place. 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
   • It shook the girl distressingly, but she made no sign; only she took one swift look at Andrew, and noted that he had suddenly changed from a boy into a man, with a brave, grave face. 1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 203:

Forms