woefully

Sometimes wo·ful·ly

[woh-fuh-lee]

adverb

1. in a sad or miserable way.

   More often than I care to remember, I’ve been stumped for suitable small talk and have ended up staring woefully into my drink.

2. to a particularly regrettable or unfortunate degree.

   The treatments prescribed by this psychiatrist are at best woefully inadequate, and at worst, make the patients more disabled than when they started out.

Other Word Forms

• unwoefully adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of woefully¹

woeful ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

With a woefully incomplete land registry at the time, ownership across much of Greece was unclear.

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Few surveillance cameras cover the outside of the museum, and the security command centers were woefully inadequate.

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With a few notable exceptions, today’s campuses are woefully lacking in viewpoint diversity, among faculty and students alike.

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Back when he began coaching in the 1990s, U.S. runners were woefully far behind.

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Instead, the Jets have played woefully on both sides of the ball and looked as sloppy as ever.

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Related Words

• acutely 
• badly 
• greatly 
• sadly 
• severely