wailfully

adverb

as in sadly
with feelings of bitterness or grief the lost child wailfully kept asking for his mother

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for wailfully
  1. sadly
  2. bitterly
  3. sorrowfully
  4. painfully
  5. mournfully
  6. hard
Adverb
  • Political and legal debates date back to ancient Rome and have been a key part of our nation, beginning with Lincoln-Douglas, yet experts say, sadly, are no longer perceived as necessary.
    — Jennifer McLogan, CBS News, 20 Oct. 2026
  • There is of course another way to hear ABBA songs sung live onstage, though sadly without Greek island backdrops or background singers wearing floppy swim fins.
    — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of sadly
Adverb
  • Conservationists fought bitterly over whether trapping every bird should be considered rescue or surrender.
    — David Ginsburg, The Conversation, 20 Oct. 2026
  • And the fourth was about how Bush’s advisers fought bitterly and were split on economic policy.
    — Bob Woodward, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of bitterly
Adverb
  • Tarun would tease her, and my mother would look sorrowfully toward Kavitha, as if the two of them now shared some womanly burden.
    — Madhuri Vijay, New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2025
Definition of sorrowfully
Adverb
  • For residents, the reservoir nonetheless remains a painfully visible symbol of the city’s shortcomings.
    — Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
  • But the editorial process was painfully slow, and the business model was doomed by the dot-com crash.
    — Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of painfully
Adverb
  • Fra Fee, as Joe, has a slightly harder task, since his role is almost entirely reactive; while Ethan bangs on mournfully about, effectively, the dangers of shagging your brother’s wife — well, who would have thought?
    — Damon Wise, Deadline, 13 Sep. 2026
  • Mayfield watched mournfully in his kitchen while the rest of the family sat in the living room with the big screen next to a Christmas tree.
    — John Romano, The Orlando Sentinel, 19 July 2026
Definition of mournfully
Adverb
  • With nearly 60 murders per day, South Africa has one of the world's highest crime rates, and several of Cape Town's townships are among the areas hardest hit by violent crime.
    — Julie Bourdin, NPR, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Eisenkot believes Netanyahu has purposefully made that process harder.
    — Eric Cortellessa, Time, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of hard
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

wail (for)
wailfully
wailing
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Cite this Entry

“Wailfully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wailfully. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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