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sorry

Pronunciation: /ˈsɒɹi/

The English word “sorry” has 12 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Regretful or apologetic for one's actions.
  2. Grieved or saddened, especially by the loss of something or someone.
  3. Poor, pitifully sad or regrettable.
  4. Pathetic; contemptibly inadequate.

interjection

  1. Expresses regret, remorse, or sorrow.
  2. Said as a request to excuse one's unintentional behaviors.
  3. Said as a request to pass somebody.
  4. Used as a request for someone to repeat something not heard or understood clearly.
  5. Used to correct oneself in speech.
  6. Used as a hedge.

noun

  1. The act of saying sorry; an apology.

verb

  1. To feel sorry (for someone).

Etymology

From Middle English sory, from Old English sāriġ (“feeling or expressing grief, sorry, grieved, sorrowful, sad, mournful, bitter”), from Proto-West Germanic *sairag, from Proto-Germanic *sairagaz (“sad”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂yro (“hard, rough, painful”). Cognate with Scots sairie (“sad, grieved”), Saterland Frisian seerich (“sore, inflamed”), West Frisian searich (“sad, sorry”), Low…

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