as in bitterly
with feelings of bitterness or grief
an unhappily married couple being counseled by a professional
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Recent Examples of unhappily
The Old Globe: ‘Hedda Gabler’ Film and stage star Katie Holmes will play the title role in a new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s 1891 Norwegian psychological drama about an unhappily married and controlling woman whose plot to financially ruin her former lover goes horribly awry.
—
Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Dec. 2025
Amir stars as unhappily married Angine who is infatuated with salesgirl Malaise (Bajrami), threatening to put them both of them in danger of terrible reprisals.
—Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 2 Dec. 2025
Ibsen’s title character is a spoiled, headstrong young woman who, newly and unhappily married to a dull scholar, enacts a Machiavellian scheme to advance his career and her social standing, with catastrophic results.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2025
One of the youngest of the MacKenzie brood (and often seen with sister Janet), Jocasta Cameron is sometimes callously honest, perpetually jealous of the attention Ellen gets, and unhappily married to an old man.
—Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 8 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unhappily
Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Dec. 2025
Amir stars as unhappily married Angine who is infatuated with salesgirl Malaise (Bajrami), threatening to put them both of them in danger of terrible reprisals.
—Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 2 Dec. 2025
Ibsen’s title character is a spoiled, headstrong young woman who, newly and unhappily married to a dull scholar, enacts a Machiavellian scheme to advance his career and her social standing, with catastrophic results.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2025
One of the youngest of the MacKenzie brood (and often seen with sister Janet), Jocasta Cameron is sometimes callously honest, perpetually jealous of the attention Ellen gets, and unhappily married to an old man.
—Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 8 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unhappily
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unhappily
Adverb
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The bitterly cold wind chills will linger through the morning commute, then gradually improve this afternoon as winds ease and temperatures climb.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
16 Mar. 2026
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Democrats and Republicans clashed bitterly over the issues last week as hundreds of concerned parents and advocates traveled to the state Capitol complex to oppose the measures in front of three different committees on the same day.—
Christopher Keating,
Hartford Courant,
15 Mar. 2026
Adverb
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The veteran actor has four Oscar nominations but has sadly gone 0 for 4, losing Best Supporting Actor for Platoon (1986), Shadow of the Vampire (2000), and The Florida Project (2017), and Best Actor for At Eternity's Gate (2018).—
Kevin Jacobsen,
Entertainment Weekly,
15 Mar. 2026
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His abhorrent behavior is sadly too common across the restaurant industry, from the finest dining to the humblest street stalls.—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Mar. 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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Without a pipeline, as Europeans learned painfully when the Nord Stream pipeline was sabotaged, replacing gas in a tight market is very difficult.—
Michael Khouw,
CNBC,
12 Mar. 2026
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By then Liverpool had fallen behind in painfully avoidable fashion from a corner.—
James Pearce,
New York Times,
11 Mar. 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
Cite this Entry
“Unhappily.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unhappily. Accessed 18 Mar. 2026.
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