outrageousvsoutrageouslyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: outrageous is a adjective, outrageously is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“outrageous” is an adjective and “outrageously” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,100
“outrageous” frequency rank
#37,134
“outrageously” frequency rank
47234
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature outrageous outrageously
Definition Violating morality or decency; provoking indignation or affront. In an outrageous manner; to an outrageous degree.

Letter map: outrageous vs outrageously

Shared letters muted; letters that set outrageous and outrageously apart highlighted. Shared run: 10. outrageous runs 10 letters (VVCCVCVVVC) against outrageously's 12 (VVCCVCVVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
outrageous
12 ch
outrageously

Role in the sentence - outrageous and outrageously

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: outrageous is anadjective and outrageouslyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “outrageous” sits inside “outrageously”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47234, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

outrageous is recorded at frequency rank #10,100, classified as anadj, pronounced /aʊtˈɹeɪdʒəs/. outrageously is at rank #37,134, tagged as anadv.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 47234, this pair ranks #204,329 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of outrageous vs outrageously

Shared letters: aegorstu. Private to "outrageous": -. Private to "outrageously": ly.

"outrageous" · 10 letters · shape VVCCVCVVVC  ·  "outrageously" · 12 letters · shape VVCCVCVVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • outrageous ← oturageous · ourtageous · outargeous · outraegous · outrageosu · outrageouss · outrageuos · outraggeous
  • outrageously ← oturageously · ourtageously · outargeously · outraegously · outrageosuly · outrageoulsy · outrageouslly · outrageouslyy

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "outrageous" and "outrageously" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "outrageous" is an adjective and "outrageously" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "outrageous" vs "outrageously" - which ranks higher?
"outrageous" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,100 in our English list, against #37,134 for "outrageously". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "outrageous" and "outrageously". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "outrageous" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "outrageously" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #204,329 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #204,329 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list