unfortunately

adverb un·for·tu·nate·ly \ ˌən-ˈfȯrch-nət-lē , -ˈfȯr-chə- \

Updated on: 9 May 2018

1 : it is unfortunate

unfortunately for him your letter has let the cat out of the bag
—G. B. Shaw

2 : in a regrettable, unlucky, or unsuitable manner : in an unfortunate manner

The marriage turned out unfortunately.

See unfortunately defined for English-language learners

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 of unfortunately from the Web

Castro's problem, unfortunately, is that while she's been able to defy time, the clock has been ticking on Teddy's.

— steve lopez, latimes.com, "A beloved taco joint run by an 81-year-old matriarch may get crushed to make way for Chipotle," 5 May 2018
But, unfortunately the service is about to get a little more expensive: Amazon has just announced that its annual fee will rise from $99 to $119.

— lindsey murray, Good Housekeeping, "Amazon Is Raising the Price of Prime Membership Very Soon," 27 Apr. 2018
With that said, Iggy is unfortunately very stubborn.

— eve barlow, GQ, "Can Iggy Azalea Be Her Own Savior?," 19 Apr. 2018
There was also a recent incident at Lake Tahoe, not online, unfortunately: a tray of pot brownies, just out of the oven, left cooling on the windowsill while everyone went out for a walk.

— rachel levin, Health.com, "Here’s What You Should Do If You See a Bear—Whether You’re on the Trail or in Your Backyard," 16 Apr. 2018
Beyond that, unfortunately, the historical record on Abiah is quite thin.

— rachel kaufman, Smithsonian, "Welcome to Salem, Witches: “Timeless” Season 2, Episode 4, Recapped," 9 Apr. 2018
Miley probably didn't intentionally mean to ruin things for fans, but unfortunately, spoilers are always going to happen.

— gabe bergado, Teen Vogue, "The “RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars” Finale Was Spoiled by Miley Cyrus and Fans Are Annoyed," 16 Mar. 2018
The answer comes too early in the movie, unfortunately.

— paul daugherty, Cincinnati.com, "Doc: I thought Chris Mack was staying at Xavier University. Then, my phone rang.," 26 Mar. 2018
But that’s the way unfortunately right now the system works.

— w.j. hennigan, Time, "President Trump Bashed Wasteful Spending. Then He Praised Over-Budget Military Projects," 23 Mar. 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.