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
Related Words
See wretched.
Other Word Forms
- sorrily adverb
- sorriness noun
- unsorry adjective
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.
I’m sorry for your loss of your mother.
From Salon • Apr. 27, 2026
In a letter dated April 23, Altman said he was sorry OpenAI didn’t contact law enforcement about Van Rootselaar, whose ChatGPT account the company suspended last June.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
"I am deeply sorry that we did not alert law enforcement to the account that was banned in June," Altman wrote.
From Barron's • Apr. 24, 2026
“You know, we’ll be tormented by it for a long time. I will be, and I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people. It was not intentional, and that’s all I’ll say.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026
‘I’m sorry we can’t do better,’ said Fin-Kedinn, ‘but prey is scarce.’
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
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.
