sorry

Etymology

From Middle English sory, from Old English sāriġ (“feeling or expressing grief, sorry, grieved, sorrowful, sad, mournful, bitter”), from Proto-West Germanic *sairag, from Proto-Germanic *sairagaz (“sad”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂yro (“hard, rough, painful”). Cognate with Scots sairie (“sad, grieved”), Saterland Frisian seerich (“sore, inflamed”), West Frisian searich (“sad, sorry”), Low German serig (“sick, scabby”), German dialectal sehrig (“sore, sad, painful”), Swedish sårig. Despite the similarity in form and meaning, not related to sorrow. More at sore.

adj

1. (of a person) Regretful or apologetic for one's actions.
   I am sorry I stepped on your toes. It was an accident.
2. (of a person) Grieved or saddened, especially by the loss of something or someone.
   I am sorry for your loss.
   The President was sorry to hear that the Ambassador was leaving.
3. Poor, pitifully sad or regrettable.
   The storm left his garden in a sorry state.
4. Pathetic; contemptibly inadequate.
   Bob is a sorry excuse for a football player.
   The sorry experience did little to suggest that Musk knows how to run a social media platform or that DeSantis is capable of governing a global superpower armed with nuclear weapons. 2023-05-25, David Smith, “Failure to launch: Twitter glitches deal double blow to Elon Musk and Ron DeSantis”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

intj

1. Expresses regret, remorse, or sorrow.
   Sorry! I didn't see that you were on the phone.
   Sorry about yesterday. — No worries.
2. Used as a request for someone to repeat something not heard or understood clearly.
   Sorry? What was that? The phone cut out.
3. Used to correct oneself in speech.
   There are four– sorry, five branches of the store locally.
4. Said as a request to pass somebody.
   Sorry! Coming through!

noun

1. The act of saying sorry; an apology.
   The British would do it standing stock still, Latinos would dance their sorries, and Canadians would find a way to apologize on ice. 2007, Christopher Levan, Give Us This Day: Lenten Reflections on Baking Bread and Discipleship, page 107
   So learn how to tailor your sorries to the sexes. Women tend to want an acknowledgment of what they're going through... 2008, Lucy S. Danziger, Self Magazine's 15 Minutes to Your Best Self