unfortunately

adverb

un·for·tu·nate·ly | \ ˌən-ˈfȯrch-nət-lē

, -ˈfȯr-chə-\

Definition of unfortunately

1 : it is unfortunate Unfortunately, in the intervening years, time has not stood still for the global environment.— Al Gore A young man can work at excessive speed with no ill effects, but youth is unfortunately not a permanent condition of life.— F. Scott Fitzgerald The past couple years have ended unfortunately for us, and we're using it as motivation.— James Moyers

2 : in a regrettable, unlucky, or unsuitable manner : in an unfortunate manner "Have you an agreeable neighbourhood here? Are the Middletons pleasant people?" "No, not all," answered Marianne; "we could not be more unfortunately situated."— Jane Austen

Examples of unfortunately in a Sentence

Our awards program evaluates wine lists, not restaurants as a whole. While we assume the level of food and service will be commensurate with the quality of the wine lists submitted by award winners, this unfortunately is not always true. — Wine Spectator, 31 Aug. 2008 Coral reefs provide essential goods and services to maritime tropical nations and are the most diverse marine ecosystems on the planet. Unfortunately, reefs are seriously declining because of global warming. — Andrea G. Grottoli et al., Nature, 27 Apr. 2006 There are many books announcing a global economic transformation and suggesting that governments can be reengineered to adapt to it in much the same way as corporations. … Unfortunately the problems of globalization are more intractable than those of corporate life. States cannot be phased out like bankrupt firms, and large shifts in wealth and power tend to be fiercely contested. — John Gray, New York Review of Books, 11 Aug. 2005 Doctors have long believed that children experience pain differently than adults. Unfortunately, most doctors thought kids felt pain less than grownups do, and didn't retain memory of it. As late as the 1970s, infants underwent major surgery without anesthetics. … This barbaric notion was finally put to rest in the 1980s … — Michael D. Lemonick, Time, 28 Feb. 2005 In the aftermath of the Revolution, Americans desperately needed some non-British heroes. Columbus filled the bill even though no one knew much about him until novelist Washington Irving visited Spain, found a rich lode of source materials and produced a widely read biography. Unfortunately, Irving mixed fiction with fact, and one of his most graphic scenes, set in Salamanca, was wildly imaginative. — Owen Gingerich, Scientific American, November 1992

Recent Examples on the Web

Despite being nominated for nine awards (!!!!), fans unfortunately won't see Ariana Grande at tonight's Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. — Yerin Kim, Seventeen, "The Real Reason Ariana Grande Is Skipping Out on the 2019 BBMAs," 1 May 2019 However, there's one major player that unfortunately won't be gracing our television screens this time around—the Time Bandit commercial fishing boat. — Blair Donovan, Country Living, "This Is Why 'Deadliest Catch' Won't Feature the Time Bandit Anymore," 28 Apr. 2019 And unfortunately for those in the northeast, New York landed at the bottom, due in large part to its cost of living being higher than any other state in the union. — Don Reisinger, Fortune, "Here Are the Best (and Worst) States to Retire," 12 July 2018 Dear White People, unfortunately, was completely shut out despite Netflix's overall juggernaut status, which also somehow failed to get Alison Brie a lead actress in a comedy nomination even though GLOW was nominated for series. — Tim Goodman, The Hollywood Reporter, "THR's TV Critics Debate the Highs and Lows of the 2018 Emmy Nominations," 12 July 2018 These scorching figures are, unfortunately, nothing new this summer. — Darcy Costello, The Courier-Journal, "A break in Louisville's heat and humidity is on the way (finally!)," 6 July 2018 My experience is that folks will get, unfortunately, pennies on the dollar. — Patricia Madej, Philly.com, "Center City water main break aftermath: A few buildings still lack power, months of work ahead," 11 July 2018 The trailer, unfortunately, doesn't paint a promising picture for Joyce and Hopper. — Christopher Rosa, Glamour, "7 Stranger Things Season 3 Fan Theories That Will Turn Your Mind Upside Down," 22 Mar. 2019 Well, unfortunately, all Target stores will be closed on Easter Sunday. — Jennifer Aldrich, Country Living, "Is Target Open on Easter? Here Are the Retailer's Holiday Hours," 18 Mar. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'unfortunately.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.