sad

[sad]

See more synonyms for sad on Thesaurus.com

adjective, sad·der, sad·dest.

affected by unhappiness or grief; sorrowful or mournful: to feel sad because a close friend has moved away.
expressive of or characterized by sorrow: sad looks; a sad song.
causing sorrow: a sad disappointment; sad news.

(of color) somber, dark, or dull; drab.
deplorably bad; sorry: a sad attempt.
Obsolete. firm or steadfast.

Origin of sad

before 1000; Middle English; Old English sæd grave, heavy, weary, orig. sated, full; cognate with German satt, Gothic saths full, satisfied; akin to Latin satis enough, satur sated, Greek hádēn enough. See satiate, saturate

Related formssad·ly, adverbsad·ness, noun

Synonyms for sad

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1. unhappy, despondent, disconsolate, discouraged, gloomy, downcast, downhearted, depressed, dejected, melancholy.

Antonyms for sad

1. happy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for sadly

wistfully, sorrowfully, dejectedly, dismally, dolefully, gloomily, grievously, morosely

Examples from the Web for sadly

Contemporary Examples of sadly

Sadly, it appears the American press often doesn't need any outside help when it comes to censoring themselves.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead
Luke O’Neil
January 8, 2015
Having finally seen Selma on November 17, I must report, sadly, that I do not share the enthusiasm the film has generated so far.
Dr. King Goes to Hollywood: The Flawed History of ‘Selma’
Gary May
January 2, 2015
Sadly, the world will never see the realization of those skills.
Dear Leelah, We Will Fight On For You: A Letter to a Dead Trans Teen
Parker Molloy
January 1, 2015
Sadly, this choice between growth and climate change may not be necessary.
Time to Bring Back the Truman Democrats
Joel Kotkin
December 21, 2014
Sadly, laws throughout the Middle East—from North Africa to the Gulf—limit the rights of religious minorities and non-believers.
What It’s Like to Be an Atheist in Palestine
Waleed al-Husseini, Movements.Org
December 8, 2014

Historical Examples of sadly

But Andrew flung himself out of the saddle and came to them sadly.
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand
Mrs. Weston sadly missed her young friend after his departure.
Life in London
Edwin Hodder
"I have only my fiddle in the world, and I cannot give that away," he said sadly, after thinking a while.
Rico and Wiseli
Johanna Spyri
They both stood side by side, looking at her earnestly and sadly.
The Dream
Emile Zola
She has been sadly neglected, however, and her mother ought to remember it.
Lady Susan
Jane Austen

British Dictionary definitions for sadly

SAD

abbreviation for

seasonal affective disorder

sad

adjective sadder or saddest

feeling sorrow; unhappy
causing, suggestive, or expressive of such feelingsa sad story
unfortunate; unsatisfactory; shabby; deplorableher clothes were in a sad state
British informal ludicrously contemptible; pathetiche's a sad, boring little wimp
(of pastry, cakes, etc) not having risen fully; heavy
(of a colour) lacking brightness; dull or dark
archaic serious; grave

verb

NZ to express sadness or displeasure strongly

Derived Formssadly, adverbsadness, noun

Word Origin for sad

Old English sæd weary; related to Old Norse sathr, Gothic saths, Latin satur, satis enough

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sadly

adv.

c.1300, "heavily," also "solidly," from sad + -ly (2). Meaning "sorrowfully" is mid-14c.

sad

adj.

Old English sæd "sated, full, having had one's fill (of food, drink, fighting, etc.), weary of," from Proto-Germanic *sathaz (cf. Old Norse saðr, Middle Dutch sat, Dutch zad, Old High German sat, German satt, Gothic saþs "satiated, sated, full"), from PIE *seto- (cf. Latin satis "enough, sufficient," Greek hadros "thick, bulky," Old Church Slavonic sytu, Lithuanian sotus "satiated," Old Irish saith "satiety," sathach "sated"), from root *sa- "to satisfy" (cf. Sanskrit a-sinvan "insatiable").

Sense development passed through the meaning "heavy, ponderous" (i.e. "full" mentally or physically), and "weary, tired of" before emerging c.1300 as "unhappy." An alternative course would be through the common Middle English sense of "steadfast, firmly established, fixed" (e.g. sad-ware "tough pewter vessels") and "serious" to "grave." In the main modern sense, it replaced Old English unrot, negative of rot "cheerful, glad."

Meaning "very bad" is from 1690s. Slang sense of "inferior, pathetic" is from 1899; sad sack is 1920s, popularized by World War II armed forces (specifically by cartoon character invented by Sgt. George Baker, 1942, and published in U.S. Armed Forces magazine "Yank"), probably a euphemistic shortening of common military slang phrase sad sack of shit.

sadly in Medicine

SAD

abbr.

seasonal affective disorder