as in drearily
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Recent Examples of distressingly In many ways, Donovan’s story is distressingly familiar. —
Megan Molteni, STAT, 7 Apr. 2026 In essence, Bright Lights, Big City, instead of being emotionally provoking and riveting, is distressingly gray and tedious, enlivened only by Fox’s gifted histrionics. —Duane Byrge, HollywoodReporter, 1 Apr. 2026 More distressingly, their 11 losses last season didn’t just mark the head coach’s first losing season since his tenure in Kansas City began in 2013. —Kansas City Star, 1 Mar. 2026 The pipeline of new antibiotics remains distressingly thin, and most drugs currently in development are structurally similar to existing antibiotics, potentially limiting their effectiveness. —André O. Hudson, The Conversation, 21 Jan. 2026 That can be forgiven thanks to the film’s evocative imagery and the emotional resonance of its central themes, distressingly familiar to anyone who has ever lost themselves in a relationship. —Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 10 Dec. 2025 The running game is a mess, Carson Wentz is often running for his life, and the defense proved distressingly vulnerable to big plays in last weekend’s 28-22 loss to Philadelphia. —Pioneer Press, Twin Cities, 23 Oct. 2025 Advertisement Opioid addiction is distressingly common in nearly every contact and combat sport, but Kerr was isolated from the endemic abuse of painkillers in the industry. —Rory Doherty, Time, 5 Sep. 2025 Naturally, the theft of the ghost shirt by the stooges in the employ of Roy Lee is accompanied by many deceased bodies — the first of the many bloodbaths in Americana, which has a distressingly expedient approach to on-screen carnage. —Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 22 Aug. 2025
Megan Molteni, STAT, 7 Apr. 2026 In essence, Bright Lights, Big City, instead of being emotionally provoking and riveting, is distressingly gray and tedious, enlivened only by Fox’s gifted histrionics. —Duane Byrge, HollywoodReporter, 1 Apr. 2026 More distressingly, their 11 losses last season didn’t just mark the head coach’s first losing season since his tenure in Kansas City began in 2013. —Kansas City Star, 1 Mar. 2026 The pipeline of new antibiotics remains distressingly thin, and most drugs currently in development are structurally similar to existing antibiotics, potentially limiting their effectiveness. —André O. Hudson, The Conversation, 21 Jan. 2026 That can be forgiven thanks to the film’s evocative imagery and the emotional resonance of its central themes, distressingly familiar to anyone who has ever lost themselves in a relationship. —Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 10 Dec. 2025 The running game is a mess, Carson Wentz is often running for his life, and the defense proved distressingly vulnerable to big plays in last weekend’s 28-22 loss to Philadelphia. —Pioneer Press, Twin Cities, 23 Oct. 2025 Advertisement Opioid addiction is distressingly common in nearly every contact and combat sport, but Kerr was isolated from the endemic abuse of painkillers in the industry. —Rory Doherty, Time, 5 Sep. 2025 Naturally, the theft of the ghost shirt by the stooges in the employ of Roy Lee is accompanied by many deceased bodies — the first of the many bloodbaths in Americana, which has a distressingly expedient approach to on-screen carnage. —Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 22 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for distressingly
Adverb
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The Sierra Nevada mountains were replenished after seeing a dismally low snowpack to start the year, and snow even temporarily closed Yosemite National Park.— Terry Castleman, Los Angeles Times, 24 Feb. 2026
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In this regard, ICE and the federal government have failed dismally.— The Atlantic, The Atlantic, 26 Jan. 2026
Adverb
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This reporter tried his hand recently to add to his take after a Las Vegas trip, but failed miserably.— Ryan Gaydos OutKick, FOXNews.com, 22 Apr. 2026
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If that were true, record numbers of small owners wouldn’t be staring down foreclosure and bankruptcy due to past rent freezes and years of miniscule rent adjustments that failed miserably to address across-the-board increases in building operating costs and expenses.— Ann Korchak, New York Daily News, 23 Mar. 2026
Adverb
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Though Ridley Scott works in a drastically different tone than the one John Carpenter brought to Dark Star, the two films share screenwriter Dan O’Bannon’s darkly comedic view of a future that has reduced humans to alternately bored and terrified cogs in larger machines.— Keith Phipps, Vulture, 23 Apr. 2026
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It’s billed as a darkly comic Southern story about redemption, survival, and small-town chaos.— Matt Grobar, Deadline, 23 Apr. 2026
Adverb
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What at first appears to be a run-of-the-mill trauma drama about a family dealing with the eldest child’s anorexia nervosa gradually evolves into something odder and more original, even blackly comic, in Ungrateful Beings.— Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 25 Sep. 2025
Adverb
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War of the Worlds star Ice Cube now has another reason to stare forlornly at his computer.— Erik Pedersen, Deadline, 13 Mar. 2026
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One of the most affecting shots shows McCartney glancing forlornly at a seat beside him at the mixing desk.— Jordan Runtagh, PEOPLE, 27 Nov. 2025
Adverb
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In Time Regained, the concluding volume of Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, an older version of the narrator gloomily decides to attend a gathering at the Guermantes’ mansion.— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Mar. 2026
Adverb
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Then there is the steady stream of profiles on tech billionaires joylessly devoting themselves to maximizing their lifespan.— CBS News, CBS News, 3 Jan. 2026
Adverb
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For example, professors Morana Koludrovic and Franceska Delija at the University of Split in Croatia also make the point, more pessimistically, however, that the young can no longer learn from the old, not with all the changes in technology and media.— Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 20 Feb. 2026
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Look pessimistically, and perhaps the inexperience is too much of a barrier.— Jake Ciely, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Distressingly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.grautoblog.com/thesaurus/distressingly. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
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