unhappily
adverb
Simple meaning
Without happiness; sadly.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnhapuhleeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ənˈhæpəli
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
Without happiness; sadly.
Through evil fate or chance; wretchedly.
Unfortunately; regrettably.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
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More ways to use unhappily
- “They were unhappily married.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Emotions experienced when not in a state of well-being.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: without happiness
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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.