English

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Etymology

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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 German serig (sick, scabby), German dialectal sehrig (sore, sad, painful), Swedish sårig. Despite the similarity in form and meaning, not related to sorrow. Equivalent to sore + -y.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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sorry (comparative sorrier, superlative sorriest)

  1. (of a person) Regretful or apologetic for one's actions.
    Synonyms: apologetic, compunctious, contrite, penitent, regretful, remorseful, repentant
    I am sorry I stepped on your toes. It was an accident.
  2. (of a person) Grieved or saddened, especially by the loss of something or someone.
    Synonyms: heavy-hearted, melancholy, mournful
    I feel sorry for you, about your exam results.
    The President was sorry to hear that the Ambassador was leaving.
  3. Poor, pitifully sad or regrettable.
    The storm left his garden in a sorry state.
  4. Pathetic; contemptibly inadequate.
    Bob is a sorry excuse for a football player.
    • 2023 May 25, David Smith, “Failure to launch: Twitter glitches deal double blow to Elon Musk and Ron DeSantis”, in The Guardian[1], →ISSN:
      The sorry experience did little to suggest that Musk knows how to run a social media platform or that DeSantis is capable of governing a global superpower armed with nuclear weapons.

Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Interjection

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sorry

  1. Expresses regret, remorse, or sorrow.
    Synonym: (slang, chiefly Britain) soz
    Sorry! I didn't see that you were on the phone.
    Sorry about yesterday. — No worries.
    Sorry I’m so late.
  2. Used as a request for someone to repeat something not heard or understood clearly.
    Synonyms: I beg your pardon?, I'm sorry?, say again, come again, (US) excuse me?; see also Thesaurus:say again
    Sorry? What was that? The phone cut out.
  3. Used to correct oneself in speech.
    There are four– sorry, five branches of the store locally.
  4. Said as a request to pass somebody.
    Synonym: excuse me
    Sorry! Coming through!

Usage notes

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  • A typically sarcastic use slows down the rhythm and stresses the final syllable, as /ˌsɒˈɹiːː/. This is often spelled as sorree or emphatically as something like SOR-REE!! in print.

Descendants

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun

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sorry (plural sorries or sorrys)

  1. The act of saying sorry; an apology.
    • 2007, Christopher Levan, Give Us This Day: Lenten Reflections on Baking Bread and Discipleship, page 107:
      The British would do it standing stock still, Latinos would dance their sorries, and Canadians would find a way to apologize on ice.
    • 2008, Lucy S. Danziger, Self Magazine's 15 Minutes to Your Best Self:
      So learn how to tailor your sorries to the sexes. Women tend to want an acknowledgment of what they're going through...

Translations

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Verb

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sorry (third-person singular simple present sorries, present participle sorrying, simple past and past participle sorried)

  1. (intransitive, transitive, rare) To feel sorry (for someone).
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References

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Further reading

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Chinese

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Etymology

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From English sorry.

Pronunciation

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  • Cantonese: IPA(key): /sɔ⁵⁵ ɹi²¹/, /sɔ⁵⁵ li²¹/, /sɔ⁵⁵ wi²¹/
  • Interjection

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    sorry

    1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, Singapore Hokkien, Penang Hokkien, colloquial) sorry

    Synonyms

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    Czech

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    Etymology

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    Derived from English sorry.

    Interjection

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    sorry

    1. (informal) sorry (I apologize)
      Synonym: See also pardon

    Dutch

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from English sorry.

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /ˈsɔ.ri/
    • Audio:(file)
    • Hyphenation: sor‧ry

    Interjection

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    sorry

    1. sorry (expressing regret)
      Je hebt me heel erg pijn gedaan toen je dat zei.Sorry, dat is nooit mijn bedoeling geweest.
      You really hurt me a lot when you said that. — Sorry, that was never my intention.
    2. sorry, pardon, excuse me
      Je stond op mijn voet!Oh, sorry!
      You were standing on my foot! — Oh, sorry!

    Synonyms

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    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    German

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    Etymology

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    Unadapted borrowing from English sorry.

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /ˈzɔʁi/, /ˈsɔri/
    • Audio:(file)
    • Hyphenation: sor‧ry

    Interjection

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    sorry

    1. (colloquial) sorry (expressing regret)
      Synonym: Entschuldigung
      • 2020 December 24, Bernd Ulrich, “Das Jahr, in dem die Normalität zu Ende ging”, in Die Zeit[2]:
        [] Armin Laschet und Olaf Scholz wollen vor allem die alte BRD bewahren und die Methode Merkel mit, sorry, schwächeren Mitteln prolongieren; []
        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

    Further reading

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    • sorry” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
    • sorry” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
    • sorry” in Duden online

    Middle English

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    Etymology 1

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    From Anglo-Norman soree.

    Noun

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    sorry

    1. Alternative form of sorre

    Etymology 2

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    From Old English sāriġ.

    Noun

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    sorry

    1. (Late ME) Alternative form of sory

    Polish

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    Etymology

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    Unadapted borrowing from English sorry.

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /ˈsɔ.rɘ/
    • Rhymes: -ɔrɘ
    • Syllabification: so‧rry

    Interjection

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    sorry

    1. (informal) sorry! (expressing regret)
      Synonym: przepraszam

    Further reading

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    • sorry in Polish dictionaries at PWN

    Spanish

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    Etymology

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    Unadapted borrowing from English sorry.

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /ˈsori/ [ˈso.ri]
    • Rhymes: -ori
    • Syllabification: so‧rry

    Interjection

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    sorry

    1. (informal) sorry (expressing regret)
      Synonym: perdón

    Usage notes

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    According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

    Swedish

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    Etymology

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    Unadapted borrowing from English sorry.

    Interjection

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    sorry

    1. (informal, casual) sorry (expressing regret)
      Sorry, brevet låg i fel brevlåda. Råkade öppna.
      Sorry, the letter was in the wrong letter box. Opened by mistake.
      • 2024 January 12, Max Wiman, “Sorry, resten av Malmö – på Limhamn finns allt [Sorry, the rest of Malmö - Limhamn has everything]”, in Sydsvenskan:
        Det är svårt att sakna något här, så sorry resten av Malmö. Här finns allt.
        It's hard to miss something here, so sorry the rest of Malmö. Everything is here.

    Usage notes

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    • As with many English expressions in Swedish; the word sorry has much lower weight and meaning than its counterpart förlåt (sorry).

    Synonyms

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    Anagrams

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    Yola

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    Etymology

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    From Middle English sory, from Old English sāriġ, from Proto-West Germanic *sairag.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    sorry

    1. sorrow

    References

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    • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 69