SORROWFULLY Synonyms: 90 Similar and Opposite Words

sorrowfully

adverb

Definition of sorrowfully

as in bitterly

with feelings of bitterness or grief in a sorrowfully worded statement she announced that she was dropping out of the race for governor

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of sorrowfully Tarun would tease her, and my mother would look sorrowfully toward Kavitha, as if the two of them now shared some womanly burden. — Madhuri Vijay, New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sorrowfully

Adverb

Although the Supreme Court’s power to overrule Congress is now broadly accepted, it was bitterly contested for more than a century.

— Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
After six months of war, the deadlock has left the Islamic Republic bitterly divided, while its ultimate arbiter, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, remains in hiding.

— Mostafa Salem, CNN Money, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of bitterly

Adverb

Curry is largely there for comic relief, swanning in with a bevy of beauties, challenging Bosley (Bill Murray) to a sumo match, and, sadly, getting murdered by the pool, thus depriving us of Curry’s magnetic presence for the rest of the film.

— ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 26 Aug. 2026
The suite is named The Endeavour, after the airplane of a former owner’s daughter, aviatrix Elsie Mackay, who attempted to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic a year after Charles Lindbergh and sadly disappeared somewhere along the way.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of sadly

Adverb

Mayfield watched mournfully in his kitchen while the rest of the family sat in the living room with the big screen next to a Christmas tree.

— John Romano, The Orlando Sentinel, 19 July 2026
So is the moment early in the film when Mary mournfully looks on as her long-ago home faces demolition to make room for a big, featureless residential complex.

— Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 6 June 2026

Definition of mournfully

Adverb

History shows that trade imbalances of this scale almost always end painfully—and that the pain of the adjustment is not distributed evenly.

— MICHAEL PETTIS, Foreign Affairs, 28 Aug. 2026
No Me Arrepiento is more defined by a slow burn of emotions, beautifully and painfully put into words.

— Leila Cobo, Billboard, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of painfully

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“Sorrowfully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sorrowfully. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of sorrowfully

adverb

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