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

Cranes are unfortunately far from the only industrial device that is hackable. — Eric Limer, Popular Mechanics, "Industrial Cranes Are Disturbingly Hackable," 16 Jan. 2019 Most cases of bronchitis stem from viral illnesses, which unfortunately cannot be treated with antibiotics. — Amy Marturana, SELF, "8 Bronchitis Symptoms Everyone Should Know," 28 Dec. 2018 But unfortunately for the Pentagon, the need to protect sats has never been greater. — Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, "USAF's Next-Gen GPS Satellites Will Be a Huge Upgrade...Eventually," 26 Dec. 2018 The most anticipated invitees, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, unfortunately missed the celebrations. — Carrie Goldberg, Harper's BAZAAR, "Priyanka Chopra & Nick Jonas' Wedding: Everything You Need to Know," 4 Dec. 2018 Take a look at some of Brit's best and, unfortunately, most regrettable looks of the past twelve months. — Jessica Booth, Redbook, "See Britney Spears' Hottest and Most Cringeworthy Looks of 2018," 20 Nov. 2018 The medium tried her best to comfort her only daughter by saying that her weight didn't define her and that, unfortunately, people being negative is part of life. — Kayla Keegan, Good Housekeeping, "'Long Island Medium' Theresa Caputo Shares Heartbreaking Update About Her Daughter's Bullying," 30 Oct. 2018 And neither — unfortunately, neither got back to me in — before the selection of the nominee. — Alvin Chang, Vox, "Every time Ford and Kavanaugh answered the question — and didn't answer the question," 28 Sep. 2018 The performance wasn't quite as good in the real world, unfortunately. — Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, "Not all level 2 driver assists are equal, IIHS finds after testing," 9 Aug. 2018

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.