Synonyms for sorry
- adjective
- interjection
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Sad — grieved or saddened, especially by the loss of something or someone
unhappy, miserable, melancholy, dismal, wretched, sorrowful, low, mournful, dejected, depressing, heavy-hearted, down-hearted, disconsolate, wistful, gloomy, grim, blue, dark, doleful, dreary, joyless, cheerless
2. Pitiful — poor, pitifully sad or regrettable
pitiful, poor, mean, pathetic, despicable, contemptible, deplorable, worthless, lamentable, scurvy, shabby, vile, pitiable, scrubby, distressing, abject, scummy, base, scandalous, beggarly
3. Regretful — regretful or apologetic for one's actions
regretful, contrite, repentant, remorseful, apologetic, penitent, rueful, penitential, compunctious rare
4. No-good
no-good, good-for-nothing, no-account informal UK US, meritless, good-for-naught dated, no-count slang US
Other
bad, afraid, inadequate, paltry, insufficient, deficient, threadbare, slazy dated
Interjection
my apology, come again, eh, soz slang UK
Definitions
- adj. 1
Regretful or apologetic for one's actions.
I am sorry I stepped on your toes. It was an accident.
- adj. 2
Grieved or saddened, especially by the loss of something or someone.
I feel sorry for you, about your exam results.
- adj. 3
Poor, pitifully sad or regrettable.
The storm left his garden in a sorry state.
- interj. 1
Expresses regret, remorse, or sorrow.
Sorry about yesterday. — No worries.
Related words
- Word family
- sorriness sorry-ass
- Phrases
- feel sorry for sorry for oneself
Example sentences
- depressing Recently, you've been depressing to hang out with.
- dreary I've got to go to another dreary meeting tomorrow.
- dejected He was left behind on Mars and is feeling dejected now.
- pathetic The education in that institute is simply pathetic.
- pitiful The pitiful tale fetched tears from the girl.
- regretful He is regretful that he couldn't go.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| sorry | rising | |
| depressing | steady | |
| dreary | rising | |
| dejected | rising | |
| pathetic | rising | |
| pitiful | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 2 letters
- eh1
- 3 letters
- bad1, low1, soz
- 4 letters
- mean1, blue1, poor1, dark1, base1, grim1, vile1
- 5 letters
- slazy
- 6 letters
- afraid2, gloomy2, dismal2, shabby2, dreary2, abject2, paltry2, scurvy, scummy, rueful2
- 7 letters
- unhappy3, pitiful3, wistful2, joyless, scrubby2, doleful2
- 8 letters
- pathetic3, wretched2, dejected3, mournful2, penitent3, contrite2, pitiable4, beggarly
- 9 letters
- miserable4, worthless2, deficient3, sorrowful3, regretful3, repentant3, cheerless, meritless3
- 10 letters
- depressing3, inadequate4, despicable4, melancholy4, scandalous3, deplorable4, apologetic5, remorseful3, lamentable4, threadbare2
- 11 letters
- distressing3, penitential
- 12 letters
- insufficient4, contemptible4, disconsolate, compunctious
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (afraid2 = 2 syllables).