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

The newly free country struggled to maintain order in the wake of independence, but it was woefully unprepared.

From The Daily Beast

His last words, or so they say, were woefully self-indulgent: “Why me, Johnny Lazia, who has been the friend of everybody?”

From The Daily Beast

The penniless Pieret announced his intentions of stealing more art from the woefully guarded Louvre to make more money.

From The Daily Beast

That is woefully short of what ISIS needs, and they know it.

From The Daily Beast

We Americans are so woefully unaware when it comes to the history, and the specifics.

From The Daily Beast

In 1864 the railway was in a very bad condition, wretchedly run down, and woefully mismanaged.

From Project Gutenberg

The bag, too, began to seem woefully full, and her stomach correspondingly empty.

From Project Gutenberg

You imagine you have married a creature endowed with reason: you are woefully mistaken, my friend.

From Project Gutenberg

He knows the British dislike of boasting, and that the American and the Britisher are woefully trusting.

From Project Gutenberg

The papers seem to be woefully wrought up over the financial rating of Mr. Harry Lehr.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• acutely
• badly
• greatly
• sadly
• severely