WRETCHEDLY Synonyms: 172 Similar and Opposite Words

wretchedly

adverb

Definition of wretchedly

as in poorly

in an unsatisfactory way the whole hockey team played wretchedly that night

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in bitterly

with feelings of bitterness or grief we're wretchedly disappointed in you for behaving so irresponsibly

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of wretchedly The Eastern Europeans—Yiddish Jews, Kimmel calls them—were poor, wretchedly so. — Alexandra Schwartz, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for wretchedly

Adverb

But the Dolphins’ tackles graded out poorly in pass protection.

— Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 14 Sep. 2026
Done poorly, which is where many merchants are today, the rail is hardcoded, and every regulatory shift becomes an engineering project instead of a configuration change.

— Dimitri Akhrin, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2026

Definition of poorly

Adverb

Homer Hill, as the name suggests, is also at no little altitude, and bitterly exposed to the elements when winter arrives.

— Daniel Taylor, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2026
Although the Supreme Court’s power to overrule Congress is now broadly accepted, it was bitterly contested for more than a century.

— Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of bitterly

Adverb

In this case, a small organization was able to generate more engagement than the YouTube channels for major media organizations like The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, and, sadly, Semafor.

— Max Tani, semafor.com, 2 Sep. 2026
Dickie Birdsall sadly passed away last year, and his family has now decided to let the car go.

— Howard Walker, Robb Report, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of sadly

Adverb

Even the odd chance to counter-attack went badly wrong — summed up by the sight of Ouattara almost knocking over team-mate Mikkel Damsgaard with a wayward pass.

— Stuart James, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026
At the time, the Mets were playing particularly badly and making a lot of mistakes on the basepaths, so Ewing’s two failed attempts were somewhat magnified.

— Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 8 Sep. 2026

Definition of badly

Adverb

Broadly speaking, great works of Russian literature have a tendency to combine painfully austere themes with strangely rich imaginations.

— Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2026
For Holocaust survivors and their descendants, as well as for the Jewish immigrants and their children, Yiddish became a source of nostalgia – the link to a world that vanished painfully in a short period of time.

— Ilan Stavans, The Conversation, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of painfully

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wretched

wretchedly

wretchedness

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“Wretchedly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wretchedly. Accessed 16 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of wretchedly

adverb

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