sadly
adverb
Simple meaning
In an unfortunate or deplorable way.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sadleeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsædli
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adverb
In an unfortunate or deplorable manner
In a sad manner; sorrowfully.
With sadness; in a sad manner
“`She died last night,' he said sadly.”
Unfortunately, sad to say.
In a manner to cause sadness; badly; terribly.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: In an unfortunate or deplorable manner
Used this way, sadly is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- deplorably , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use sadly
- “`She died last night,' he said sadly.”adverb
- “Sadly he died before he could see his grandchild.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: in an unfortunate or deplorable manner
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.