sorry
Americanadjective
-
feeling regret, compunction, sympathy, pity, etc..
to be sorry to leave one's friends; to be sorry for a remark; to be sorry for someone in trouble.
- Synonyms:
- pitying, sympathetic, regretful
- Antonyms:
- happy
-
regrettable or deplorable; unfortunate; tragic.
a sorry situation; to come to a sorry end.
-
sorrowful, grieved, or sad.
Was she sorry when her brother died?
-
associated with sorrow; suggestive of grief or suffering; melancholy; dismal.
-
wretched, poor, useless, or pitiful.
a sorry horse.
- Synonyms:
- worthless, paltry, contemptible, abject, shabby
interjection
adjective
-
feeling or expressing pity, sympathy, remorse, grief, or regret
I feel sorry for him
-
pitiful, wretched, or deplorable
a sorry sight
-
poor; paltry
a sorry excuse
-
affected by sorrow; sad
-
causing sorrow or sadness
interjection
Synonym Usage
See wretched.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of sorry
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English sārig; cognate with Low German sērig, Old High German sērag. See sore, -y 1
Explanation
To be sorry is to feel regret or feel bad about something — usually something you did. "I'm sorry" is an apology. If you're feeling sorry about something, then you're feeling a combination of sadness and regret. You can be sorry for things you did, and you can also be sorry for bad things that happen to other people that don't involve you. At a funeral, people say "I'm sorry for your loss." The word sorry can also be used as an adjective to mean shoddy or crappy, as in "That is one sorry excuse!"
Vocabulary lists containing sorry
"The Road Not Taken"
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"The House on Mango Street" and "The Road Not Taken"
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"The Giving Tree"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Sorry to say it, but Emmet Sheehan is just not ready for prime time.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 27, 2026
Sorry to sound like a broken record, but consult an estate-planning attorney if one child is receiving means-tested benefits.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 19, 2026
In a message on the Lloyds app, the bank said: "Sorry, we're having a few technical problems. Logging in again may fix the issue, but if this doesn't help, please try again later."
From BBC • Jun. 3, 2026
Sorry to the housekeeper in El Paso and that young man in Arizona; she didn’t mean to scare you.
From Salon • Jun. 1, 2026
Sorry I can’t come to the phone right now.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
