as in bitterly
with feelings of bitterness or grief
the novelist dolefully remarked that the proceeds from his last book would scarcely buy a dollhouse, let alone a real house
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Recent Examples of dolefully
There’s ample gore and jumpy moments, but the true scariness here is of the forlorn kind; leads Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen play the mounting nightmare with ache and desperation, elevating the emotional tenor of a dolefully eerie movie.
—
Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 31 Jan. 2026
Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 31 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dolefully
Adverb
-
The union had bitterly opposed Newsom in his race.—
Maya Singer,
Vogue,
1 Feb. 2026
-
On these bitterly cold winter days, nothing sounds better than defrosting in a sauna.—
Olivia Young,
Travel + Leisure,
1 Feb. 2026
Adverb
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Tarun would tease her, and my mother would look sorrowfully toward Kavitha, as if the two of them now shared some womanly burden.—
Madhuri Vijay,
New Yorker,
16 Nov. 2025
Adverb
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Victoria won three Grammys at the 2024 awards ceremony — Best New Artist, Best R&B Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical — but sadly, the category Hazel was in didn't earn the mother-daughter duo a golden gramophone.—
Diana Pearl,
PEOPLE,
1 Feb. 2026
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The urge to brand those of opposing views as evil and out to destroy the country are too great to resist, sadly.—
Boston Herald editorial staff,
Boston Herald,
29 Jan. 2026
Adverb
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For their part, Democratic leaders spoke mournfully of limits, of energy shortages, of national decline, of a crisis of confidence itself.—
Rosa Lyster,
Harpers Magazine,
30 Dec. 2025
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Based on the Dylan Thomas prose poem of the same name, published in 1952, the film lovingly and mournfully depicts the boyhood Christmastime of an old Welshman, tenderly and a tad mischievously embodied by Elliott.—
Sheldon Pearce,
New Yorker,
21 Nov. 2025
Adverb
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Ludo Lefebvre echoed the urgency, pointing to the painfully deliberate pace of the recovery.—
Michelle Edgar,
Daily News,
27 Jan. 2026
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One of those situations was painfully basic.—
C.J. Holmes,
New York Daily News,
25 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Dolefully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dolefully. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
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