woefully

[ woh-fuh-lee ]

adverb

1. in a sad or miserable way:

   More often than I care to remember, I’ve been stumped for suitable small talk and have ended up staring woefully into my drink.

2. to a particularly regrettable or unfortunate degree:

   The treatments prescribed by this psychiatrist are at best woefully inadequate, and at worst, make the patients more disabled than when they started out.

Other Words From

• un·woe·ful·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of woefully¹

woeful ( def ) + -ly

Example Sentences

To simply think the value will magically come back to you is to be woefully undereducated in the realities of our world.

From Salon

I followed up a couple of weeks later, and he said he was woefully behind.

From Los Angeles Times

For a country that loves to shout “We’re No. 1,” we’re woefully behind the rest of the world when it comes to electing female leaders.

From Los Angeles Times

Labour had pledged to reform mental health legislation in its election manifesto - branding existing laws, drawn up in the 1980s, as "woefully out of date".

From BBC

I woefully underestimated the difficulty of the rigged three-point basketball shootout, and she, likewise, misjudged her stomach’s resilience after we went on an irresponsibly fast rotating roller coaster.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• acutely
• badly
• greatly
• sadly
• severely