woefully
Americanadverb
-
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.
-
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
Etymology
Origin of woefully
Explanation
When you do something in a way that expresses how very sad or mournful you feel, you do it woefully. You can also use this adverb for things that are done really badly, like your woefully sloppy cake decorations. If you sigh woefully, "I miss my friend who moved away," you're speaking in a voice full of sorrow and longing. And if you graduate from high school not knowing how to speak even rudimentary Spanish, you can say that you are woefully lacking in foreign language skills. The "sorrowfully" meaning is the older of the two, but the "terribly" meaning is slightly more common. Woefully and woe are rooted in the Old English lamentation wa!
Vocabulary lists containing woefully
Vocabulary from the Seventh Democratic Debate, March 6, 2016
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Hilary Putnam (1926-2016)Tribute List
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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.
However, he also said that the compact is woefully out of date and should be scrapped and rewritten to match the reality of the shrinking river.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
“I was woefully underprepared in a blissful and terrible way,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Instead, the standard recommendation for pain relief during IUD insertion is to take 800 milligrams of ibuprofen an hour beforehand—a method that falls woefully short of addressing the intense discomfort experienced by many patients.
From Slate ● Jun. 7, 2026
"The climate we are living in today is simply not the one we grew up with, and our buildings and infrastructure are woefully unprepared for what's next," warned Prof Otto.
From BBC ● May 26, 2026
She looked at me so woefully that I collapsed in shame and said “I’m sorry” again and again, repeating it until I hoped maybe she believed me.
From "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henríquez
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.
