unfortunately

English

Etymology

unfortunate +‎ -ly

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈfɔːtjʊnətli/, /ʌnˈfɔːt͡ʃənətli/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈfɔɹt͡ʃənɪtli/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: un‧for‧tu‧nate‧ly

Adverb

unfortunately (comparative more unfortunately, superlative most unfortunately)

1. Happening through bad luck, or because of some unfortunate event.

   The houses which burned down could have been saved. Unfortunately, the fire truck had broken down on the way.

2. Used (as a parenthetical word) to express disappointment, compassion, sorrow, regret, or grief.
   • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 1, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:

     Unfortunately, the uproar awoke Mr. Jones, who sprang out of bed, making sure that there was a fox in the yard.

Synonyms

• (through bad luck): unluckily
• (parenthetical word): alas, regrettably, sadly, sad to say

Antonyms

• (through bad luck): fortunately, luckily

Translations

happening through bad luck

• Arabic: لِلْأَسَف‎ (li-l-ʔasaf), لِسُوءِ الْحَظِّ‎ (lisūʔi l-ḥaẓẓi)

  Egyptian Arabic: للأسف‎ (le-l-ʔasaf)

  South Levantine Arabic: للأسف‎ (li-l-ʔasaf)

• Armenian: դժբախտաբար (hy) (džbaxtabar)
• Azerbaijani: təəssüf ki
• Bashkir: ҡыҙғанысҡа ҡаршы (qıðğanısqa qarşı)
• Belarusian: на жа́ль (na žálʹ)
• Bulgarian: за жа́лост (za žálost)
• Catalan: malauradament (ca), desgraciadament (ca), malastrugament (ca), dissortadament (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不幸的 (zh) (bùxìng de), 不巧 (zh) (bùqiǎo), 可惜 (zh) (kěxí)

• Czech: bohužel (cs)
• Danish: uheldigvis (da), desværre (da)
• Dutch: helaas (nl), jammer genoeg, spijtig genoeg
• Elfdalian: dyöswerra
• Esperanto: bedaŭrinde, malfeliĉe
• Estonian: kahjuks (et)
• Faroese: tíverri
• Finnish: valitettavasti (fi), ikävä kyllä, harmillista kyllä
• French: malheureusement (fr), malencontreusement (fr)
• Galician: desafortunadamente
• Georgian: სამწუხაროდ (samc̣uxarod), საუბედუროდ (saubedurod)
• German: leider (de), unglücklicherweise (de)
• Greek: δυστυχώς (el) (dystychós)
• Greenlandic: ajoraluartumik
• Hebrew: למרבה הצער‎ (l'marbé hatsá'ar)
• Hindi: दुर्भाग्यवश (durbhāgyavaś), दुर्भाग्य से (hi) (durbhāgya se)
• Hungarian: sajnos (hu)
• Icelandic: því miður (is)
• Ido: regretinde (io)
• Indonesian: sayangnya (id)
• Italian: sfortunatamente (it), purtroppo (it), malauguratamente (it)
• Japanese: 生憎 (ja) (あいにく, ainiku), 残念ながら (ja) (ざんねんながら, zannen-nagara)
• Korean: 불행하게도 (bulhaenghagedo), 유감스럽게도 (yugamseureopgedo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بەداخەوە‎ (bedaxewe)

  Northern Kurdish: mixabin (ku)

• Latin: infeliciter, improsperē
• Latvian: diemžēl, par nelaimi
• Lithuanian: deja (lt)
• Luxembourgish: leider
• Macedonian: за жал (za žal)
• Maltese: sfortunatament
• Mbyá Guaraní: teve
• Northern Sami: dađibahábut
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uheldigvis, dessverre (no), beklageligvis

  Nynorsk: uheldigvis, dessverre

• Occitan: malaürosament
• Persian: متاسفانه‎ (fa) (mota'assefâne), بدبختانه‎ (fa) (badbaxtâne)
• Plautdietsch: leida
• Polish: niestety (pl)
• Portuguese: infelizmente (pt)
• Romanian: din păcate, din nefericire
• Romansch: deplorablamain, displaschaivlamain
• Russian: к сожале́нию (ru) (k sožaléniju), к несча́стью (k nesčástʹju)
• Rusyn: жаль (žalʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: на̏жало̄ст

  Roman: nȁžalōst (sh)

• Slovak: bohužiaľ
• Slovene: na žalost
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: bohužel, nažel

• Spanish: desafortunadamente (es), desgraciadamente (es), lamentablemente (es), por desgracia, infortunadamente (es)
• Swedish: tyvärr (sv), dessvärre (sv), olyckligtvis (sv)
• Tagalog: sa kasamaang palad
• Turkish: ne yazık ki, maalesef (tr)
• Ukrainian: на жа́ль (na žálʹ)
• Vietnamese: tiếc rằng, tiếc là
• Volapük: neläbo (vo)
• Welsh: yn anffodus
• Zazaki: çı heyfo ki