Adverb Collocations List

REF	LEVEL	COLLOCATION	MEANING	EXAMPLE
VERB + ADVERB
CO43		follow | listen | supervise | watch	closely	Keep cats indoors and supervise them closely outdoors.
CO43		complain | denounce | oppose | weep	bitterly	Mary complained bitterly about the lack of help she received.
CO43		borrow | sleep | rain | rely	heavily	They borrowed heavily from the bank to start their new business.
CO43		see | speak | remember | think	clearly	It is easier to think clearly with short sentences than long ones.
CO43		check | evaluate | revise | search	thoroughly	This material must be checked thoroughly with a language assistant.
CO43		fight | need | struggle | try	desperately	John fell and struggled desperately to regain his feet.
CO43		defeat | destroy | refuse | reject	utterly	The Jalayirs fought the Borjigins and defeated them utterly.
CO43		await | listen | participate | seek	eagerly	We listened eagerly, because she brought news of our families.
CO43		arrive | die | return | win	unexpectedly	Her cousin died unexpectedly, after a short illness aged only 28.
CO43		applaud | greet | smile | welcome	warmly	They were welcomed warmly to Ireland by a man named Emit.
ADVERB + VERB
CO44		distinctly remember	clearly remember	I distinctly remember Jim saying that the show started at seven.
CO44		badly damaged	harmed or injured to a significant extent	The car was so badly damaged that it had to be abandoned.
CO44		flatly refuse	deny or reject sth in a direct and definite way	I flatly refuse to accept any contradictions on this point.
CO44		strongly condemn	express very strong criticism of sth or sb	The French government strongly condemned the terrorist attack.
CO44		actively encourage	take proactive steps to promote sth	The government must actively encourage investment in these areas.
CO44		deeply regret	feel a strong feeling of sadness or sorrow	We deeply regret that I will be disappointing many friends.
CO44		richly deserve	deserve something greatly or completely	She finally received the recognition that she so richly deserved.
CO44		sorely tempted	be very much or intensely tempted to do sth	Sabine was sorely tempted to throw the wine in his face.
CO44		categorically deny	deny in a very clear and definite way	Indeed, he had categorically denied that there was any danger.
CO44		closely resemble	look very similar or be like something else	Kevin closely resembled his father at the same age.
ADVERB + ADJECTIVE
CO45		bitterly disappointed	be extremely sad because sth didn't happen	She was bitterly disappointed when she didn't get into university.
CO45		ridiculously cheap	very cheap	Hannah bought rolls of silk that seemed ridiculously cheap.
CO45		prohibitively expensive	so costly that many people cannot afford it	Long-term nursing home care insurance is prohibitively expensive.
CO45		widely available	easy to get, easy to find and buy	Courses and workshops on the topic are widely available.
CO45		highly recommended	sth that is strongly advised or suggested	A kitchen fan or open windows are highly recommended.
CO45		blissfully happy	experiencing the highest level of joy	Martin and Bernadette are blissfully happy together.
CO45		fiercely competitive	strongly competitive	The new world of wellness is becoming fiercely competitive.
CO45		deeply offended	upset, often because sb has been rude	I am deeply offended by some of the filth they show on television.
CO45		stunningly beautiful	extremely beautiful or attractive	She was stunningly beautiful and became the focus of attention.
CO45		spotlessly clean	completely clean	The kitchen was spotlessly clean, with nothing out of place.
CO46
CO46		highly unlikely	very unlikely	It was highly unlikely that their paths would cross again.
CO46		vastly overrated	not as good as some people think or say	In my opinion, Rubin's work has been vastly overrated.
CO46		virtually impossible	nearly or almost impossible	It is virtually impossible to predict the future accurately.
CO46		fully insured	under old age and survivors insurance	They said they're fully insured, but it's a relatively small comfort.
CO46		fundamentally different	completely different	Government and business are fundamentally different institutions.
CO46		readily available	easily accessible, obtainable, or found	All ingredients are readily available from your local store.
CO46		heavily dependent	dependent to a great degree	Britain is heavily dependent on imports for its raw materials.
CO46		excruciatingly painful	experiencing intense and unbearable pain	She found the transition to boarding school excruciatingly painful.
CO46		patently obvious	something that is clearly and visibly obvious	It's patently obvious that Mark doesn't care.
CO47
CO47		highly	acclaimed | controversial | probable | unlikely	The book was highly controversial and sold unbelievably well.
CO47		bitterly	cold | disappointed | opposed | sarcastic	A bitterly cold winter damaged industrial output and trade.
CO47		absolutely	disgraceful | gorgeous| livid | thriller	There's litter everywhere. It's absolutely disgraceful.
CO47		deeply	ashamed | concerned | hurt | offended	Alice was deeply hurt that she had not been invited.
CO47		totally	devoid | different | illogical | unacceptable	Such behaviour is totally unacceptable in a civilized society.
CO47		ridiculously	expensive | funny | easy | small	The pub is stuffy, pretentious, and ridiculously expensive.
CO47		clearly	audible | defined | identifiable | visible	The site of the old castle is clearly visible from the air.
CO47		blissfully	blessed | happy | ignorant | unaware	All this time Tina was blissfully unaware of the situation.
CO47		heavily	dependent | laden | pregnant | reliant	The service has become heavily reliant on government support.
CO47		deadly	boring | effective | pale | serious	The USA had been deadly serious in its threat of military action.
CO48
CO48		pretty much	almost, almost completely	For small objects, acrylic has pretty much replaced wood.
CO48		completely ruined	spoiled, wrecked, or destroyed	They argued all the time, which completely ruined the party for us.
ADVERB + PARTICIPLE
CO49		brightly-coloured	having colors that are vibrant or intense	The brightly-coloured boats ply between the islands.
CO49		frequently-recurring	happening or appearing multiple times	Nerve blocks are used to treat frequently-recurring pain.
CO49		deeply rooted	firmly implanted, well-established	This feeling of rejection is often deeply rooted in our childhood.
CO49		richly embroidered	having a lot of beautiful decoration	He had a splendid black horse with a richly embroidered saddle.
CO49		thinly-veiled	something is disguised or hidden	The film is a thinly-veiled allegory for our nation's obesity epidemic.
CO49		dearly-bought	obtained at a great cost or sacrifice	His success was dearly-bought, costing him his health.
CO49		grossly-overblown	bigger or more important than it should be	His status as some kind of rebel is really grossly-overblown.
CO49		much-maligned	often criticised by people	Henry is a much-maligned player but has tremendous spirit.
CO49		highly strung	very nervous and easily upset	Ann is temperamental but she's very highly-strung, you know.
CO49		carefully-planned	planned with a lot of attention or thought	They launched a carefully-planned attack on the enemy camp.
ADVERB + ADVERB
CO50		all alone	being apart from others, solitary	She dreaded the prospect of being all alone in that house.
CO50		almost certainly	nearly certain or definite	The arrested man will almost certainly be kept at this police station.
CO50		dead ahead	right in front, just ahead	The post office is dead ahead about three kilometres from here.
CO50		only just	a very short time ago, almost not	A big rock rolled down and he only just escaped being hit.
CO50		any more	to any further extent, any longer	We can't afford to spend any more money this week.
CO50		nowhere near	not close in distance, time, amount, or quality	The new shopping centre is nowhere near finished.
CO50		directly overhead	sth is situated precisely above something else	The top floor directly overhead had been abandoned for years.
CO50		strangely enough	used to remark that sth is surprising but true	Strangely enough, Marion said hardly anything about it at all.
CO50		hardly ever	almost never, very seldom	Journalists are hardly ever grown-ups, and neither are entrepreneurs.
CO50		too soon	before the usual time or the time expected	It's too soon to make a judgment about what the outcome will be.
CO51
CO51		sooner or later	at some future time, eventually	Sooner or later he's going to realize what a mistake he's made.
CO51		fair and square	in an honest way and without any doubt	Do you think that everything was done fair and square by you?
CO51		high and low	in all places, everywhere	I have searched high and low and cannot find them.
CO51		above and beyond	in excess of the expectations or demands of	The houses are decorated above and beyond the call of Nativity.
CO51		once or twice	a very few times, infrequently	We wrote to her once or twice, but she didn't answer.
CO51		well and truly	utterly, completely, without doubt	The goodbye party was well and truly over when we arrived.
CO51		down-and-out	without money, a job, or a place to live	No one would help him when he was down-and-out.
CO51		now or never	said when you must do sth immediately	Mark decided that it was now or never, and jumped into the water.
CO51		out and about	engaging in normal activity after an illness	It's good to see old Mr Jones out and about again.
CO51		back and forth	repeatedly moving between two fixed points	The pendulum in the grandfather clock swung back and forth.
CO52
CO52		seriously injured	badly or severely injured	They were ambushed, and one of their party were seriously injured.
CO52		heavily polluted	severely polluted	China is heavily polluted by the oil tail gases from conventional cars.
CO52		desperately eager	extremely enthusiastic	Both sides seem desperately eager for help from their friends.
CO52		strictly forbidden	not permitted, esp. by rule or law	The use of cameras in this museum is strictly forbidden.