sadly

adverb

sad·​ly ˈsad-lē 

1

: in a sad manner : in a way that shows sadness or unhappiness

They spoke sadly of their loss.

She shook her head sadly.

He walked away sadly.

2

: in a way that causes feelings of sadness, disappointment, or regret

a garden that has been sadly neglected for many years

What was top-of-the-line when the house was built was by now sadly outdated.

—Sue Grafton

The Greek populations of these great cities are now sadly diminished or gone altogether, leaving them much duller places.

—Robert Fox

3

: unfortunately

—used to say that something is sad, unfortunate, or regrettable

Sadly, you can upload a perfectly working website today and return a few months later to find that many of its external links have died off.

—Matthew MacDonald

Is there a way to get the virus out of an afflicted cat's system? "Sadly, no," says Dr. [James] Richards.

—Tom Ewing

Synonyms

• bitterly
• sorrowfully
• painfully
• mournfully
• regretfully
• hard

Examples of sadly in a Sentence

sadly she told us how her dog died

Recent Examples on the Web

In the absence of moonlight, a single observer might see 45 to 90 meteors per hour on the peak night, a number that sadly cannot be hoped to be approached in 2025. —Joe Rao, Space.com, 8 Aug. 2025

Now, perhaps sadly, the site may make more financial sense as just another high-rise mixed-use project with a big-box anchor retail tenant. —Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 8 Aug. 2025

One of the biggest of these is a sadly inescapable one: What if Chadwick Boseman hadn’t died? —Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 31 July 2025

But sadly, neither of the adoptions in recent years in either Madison or Michigan survived for long, the Smithsonian report says. —Laura Schulte, jsonline.com, 31 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for sadly

• badly
• gladly
• madly
• comradely