as in bitterly
with feelings of bitterness or grief
an unhappily married couple being counseled by a professional
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Recent Examples of unhappily
The actor Steve Coogan plays Tom Michell, a teacher from southern England who is unhappily assigned to an upper-class boy’s school in 1970s Argentina.
—
Glenn Kenny, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2025
The Palestinian population would live unhappily, but under the day-to-day administration of a Palestinian government.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 16 Jan. 2025
Although Hemingway had been somewhat happily employed by the Toronto Star Weekly as a foreign correspondent since 1921, in 1923 he was unhappily transferred to feature writing for the Toronto Daily Star under the notorious Hindmarsh.
—Emily Zarevich, JSTOR Daily, 6 Jan. 2025
One of them is another family friend, the unhappily married Naomi Shah, who at the psychologist’s 40th wedding-anniversary party takes an interest in Griffin that turns quickly, shockingly carnal, leading to a series of encounters in her Mercedes and elsewhere.
—Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unhappily
Glenn Kenny, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2025
The Palestinian population would live unhappily, but under the day-to-day administration of a Palestinian government.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 16 Jan. 2025
Although Hemingway had been somewhat happily employed by the Toronto Star Weekly as a foreign correspondent since 1921, in 1923 he was unhappily transferred to feature writing for the Toronto Daily Star under the notorious Hindmarsh.
—Emily Zarevich, JSTOR Daily, 6 Jan. 2025
One of them is another family friend, the unhappily married Naomi Shah, who at the psychologist’s 40th wedding-anniversary party takes an interest in Griffin that turns quickly, shockingly carnal, leading to a series of encounters in her Mercedes and elsewhere.
—Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unhappily
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unhappily
sadly
Adverb
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One of the biggest of these is a sadly inescapable one: What if Chadwick Boseman hadn’t died?—
Alan Sepinwall,
Rolling Stone,
31 July 2025
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But sadly, neither of the adoptions in recent years in either Madison or Michigan survived for long, the Smithsonian report says.—
Laura Schulte,
jsonline.com,
31 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unhappily.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unhappily. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
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