How to Use regretfully in a Sentence

regretfully

adverb
  • I must regretfully decline your invitation.
  • A sign on the door said the cafe is regretfully closing.
    Nancy Luna, Orange County Register, 7 Feb. 2017
  • Regretfully many of the flower buds are going to be lost but some might be saved with good care.
    Tom MacCubbin, OrlandoSentinel.com, 3 June 2017
  • Following the breakup, the father of six headed to Las Vegas, where he’s regretfully turned to a life of gambling.
    Dana Rose Falcone, PEOPLE.com, 18 Aug. 2017
  • Thankfully for the dogs, but regretfully for the plot, Cruella reveals that the coat is made of synthetic fur.
    Anne Cohen, refinery29.com, 29 May 2021
  • Three times this has happened to me; once, regretfully, the charge was led by Herr Doktor, who at least was playing a practical joke.
    Marc Peruzzi, Outside Online, 15 May 2018
  • Coming Band rocked the hall with a string of Motown favorites, and as the dance floor filled up, the Observer regretfully rounded up his coterie to head up and across the bay for the second event of the evening.
    al, 6 Feb. 2023
  • Aaron Rodgers was, regretfully, our second outright miss of the season.
    Kevin Acee, sandiegouniontribune.com, 19 Oct. 2017
  • Many new home buyers regretfully don't realize that the limit on the taxable value does not apply to the home the year after it is sold.
    Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 6 Mar. 2024
  • DeWine, who regretfully admitted to having talked on his phone while driving in the past, called for a change in culture to make the use of phones while driving unacceptable.
    al, 13 Feb. 2020
  • Better to choose one wedding and regretfully decline the other.
    Washington Post, 20 June 2021
  • Many people will see this as such a story and for that reason, this narrative is one that is, regretfully, evergreen.
    Chloe Foussianes, Town & Country, 7 Aug. 2019
  • This pig's companion was named, Mike told us regretfully, Miss Piggy.
    Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 25 Jan. 2012
  • Yet Brice, knowing all that, still adored him, which makes a far more interesting tale than the bowdlerized one the show offers, of a duped woman finally and regretfully seeing the light.
    New York Times, 24 Apr. 2022
  • The album thematically traces a breakup, with Laroi looking back regretfully on his and a partner’s mistakes.
    Andrew R. Chow, Time, 6 May 2021
  • Pointing out Frank Sinatra, Stoppard said regretfully that the signature had faded from too much sunlight.
    Maureen Dowd, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2022
  • However, the entertainment on the pitch might regretfully be overshadowed by events in the stands by the behaviour of visiting supporters, .
    SI.com, 19 Oct. 2017
  • The four-part series is a powerful and haunting addition to the streamer’s onslaught of true-crime fare, capturing a place and time that many Angelenos regretfully claim as part of their city’s collective history.
    Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2023
  • In spite of continuous medical treatment, Ed is regretfully still without a voice and unable to perform tonight’s show at Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam.
    Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 25 July 2022
  • Perhaps like some directors, Mr. Gunn fondly or regretfully looks back on a time when studio filmmakers could more or less do their own thing cinematically.
    Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 4 May 2017
  • But Hinton has come to think, regretfully, that digital intelligence might be more powerful.
    Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023
  • Regretfully, all my relatives are still alive, so my fitness regimen still requires frequent nocturnal visits to the graveyard for my homemade protein powder.
    John Brownlee, WIRED, 15 May 2007
  • The intensity of the sun, the island doctor tells me regretfully, requires scrupulous acclimatization.
    Rachel Cusk, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 Feb. 2017
  • The legacy of her feminist forebears (regretfully including me: guilty by association if not by intention) made her fantasies feel problematic.
    Washington Post, 17 June 2021
  • In the instantly infamous Episode 6, Oh’s character literally loses his marbles as his younger partner deviously, regretfully feeds him bad information in order to win.
    The New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2021
  • Without the Board's prior knowledge, regretfully, the delegation included one Israeli officer.
    Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, 19 May 2018
  • The Queen has regretfully canceled several official engagements recently, on her doctors' medical advice.
    Iris Goldsztajn, Marie Claire, 3 Nov. 2021
  • Several people present at internal meetings told me that Johnson had brought up convoluted arguments about the constitutional role of the Senate president pro tempore to object—regretfully—that empowering an interim Speaker would be unconstitutional.
    David D. Kirkpatrick, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2024
  • Environmental champions regretfully don't always tie their ESG pursuits into robust corporate finance frameworks.
    Frank Van Gansbeke, Forbes, 20 Mar. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'regretfully.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: