unfortunately
/ʌnˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nɪt.li/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.62 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
5
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
Happening through bad luck, or because of some unfortunate event.
adv
Used (as a parenthetical word, often a sentence adverb) to express disappointment, compassion, sorrow, regret, or grief.
Example Sentences
- "He unfortunately placed his hand on a loose brick."
- "There were an unfortunately large number of misprints."
- "The houses which burned down could have been saved. Unfortunately, the fire truck had broken down on the way."
- "Unfortunately, the uproar awoke Mr. Jones, who sprang out of bed, making sure that there was a fox in the yard."
- "Unfortunately, even in the palmiest days of the old Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway Company, passengers were few and far between at Troutbeck, and since the advent of the motor bus road services they are rarer than ever, and never likely to increase."
- "Informal techniques, if properly written, can be quite readable and comprehensible; unfortunately, it is easy to leave unsaid details that must be specified, or to misgeneralise and produce inconsistencies."
Etymology
From unfortunate + -ly or un- + fortunately.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ʌnˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nɪt.li/
- British English: /ʌnˈfɔː.tjʊ.nət.li/
Inflected Forms
more unfortunately (comparative)
most unfortunately (superlative)