woefully, adv.
(ˈwəʊfʊlɪ)
Also wofully.
[f. woeful + -ly2.]
1. In a woeful manner or condition; miserably, grievously; mournfully, sadly. arch.
| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 198, I am A womman wofully bestad. Ibid. 267 Whan thei herde Hou wofully this cause ferde. c 1480 Henryson Trial of Fox 275 The Ȝow..Put out hir playnt on this wyis wofullie. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 302 b, As thou were so wofully arayed. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. v. 33 Where many soules sit wailing woefully. 16.. Middleton, etc. Old Law v. i, These that do lead this day of jollity Doe march with Musick..Those that doe follow sad, and wofully. a 1656 Bp. Hall Specialities Life Rem. Wks. (1660) 35 That wofully distracted Church. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. cxiii. [cv], I know..what makes you laugh so woefully. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. xiii, ‘I suppose she thinks so of me,’ said Belton wofully. 1876 Swinburne Erechtheus 570 Wofully wed in a snow strewn bed. |
2. So as to excite commiseration or dissatisfaction; grievously, deplorably, ‘sadly’.
Occas. as a mere intensive: cf. awfully, terribly.
| 1648 W. Jenkyn Blind Guide iii. 58 You say but very little..but in that little you wofully trifle. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxiv, Thou hast once wofully, irreparably deceived me. 1831 James Phil. Augustus xix, Of defensive armour the supply was wofully small. 1843 Peter Parley's Ann. IV. 266 Mrs. Clinker, who was wofully, as she termed it, fond of pigs. 1885 Truth 11 June 928/1 The other exhibits are..wofully bad, and deplorably uninteresting. |