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.

Determined to give her niece a stable upbringing, Aunt Irene unhappily but dutifully left a comfortable life in Ohio to return to her small-minded hometown in the Deep South.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

For readers familiar with Sir Salman's Midnight's Children, for which he won the Booker Prize, this upcoming work revisits the Bombay neighbourhood of that book, where "a magical musician is unhappily married to a multibillionaire".

From BBC • Mar. 27, 2025

Vance wouldn't even apologize to the unhappily infertile.

From Salon • Aug. 5, 2024

On an afternoon in late January, inside the unmarked door at Freedom Home, Favor was dealing unhappily with the thing that most annoyed him: in his words, “the humans.”

From Seattle Times • Feb. 24, 2024

“I suppose it’s the alethiometer,” she said unhappily.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman