sorry
Americanadjective
-
sorrier,
comparative
-
sorriest
superlative
-
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.
See Examples For:
I’m sorry, but a college-football game that finishes 84-0 makes me a little embarrassed—for the winner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
But she told the Associated Press this week that she was sorry for the families involved.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
The public scrutiny became so intense that Sneider posted an apology tweet, writing, “I am sorry to Ms. Navarrette, who was and will continue to be treated fairly, despite previous comments suggesting otherwise.”
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2026
“I’m sorry to say, it happens, especially in Oklahoma.”
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
“When life gives you crap… turn it into fertilizer. Ah, sorry, that was probably stupid.”
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
It would all be pretty boilerplate, but Mann’s anchoring appeal — his lean into Griffin’s modesty and decency — saves the movie from a sorrier fate.
From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2022
He scored 24 goals, including two hat-tricks, and, without him, United would have been in an even sorrier state than the one they ended up in.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2022
A: I’m so sorry you’ve been put in this situation, and even sorrier that your advisor hasn’t put a stop to it sooner.
From Slate ● Feb. 9, 2021
And sorrier still because there might not be many more of them in the future.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2019
Closer to, the temple had a sorrier look: moisture rising through a damaged damp course had caused chunks of stucco to fall away.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
One of the sorriest sights in the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
Schofield recently revealed he believes his career is now over following the affair which he apologised for, calling it his "biggest, sorriest secret".
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2023
“I am trying to vindicate rightfully the sorriest mistake that I have ever made in the practice of law.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
The title, though, derives from the play’s sorriest character, a longtime worker played to disturbing effect by the excellent Alyssa Wilmoth Keegan.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 10, 2018
Watching even the sorriest of sporting events bears no resemblance to coming upon an accident and hoping to exploit it for your own personal gain.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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.
