regretfully

Adverb

regretfully (comparative more regretfully, superlative most regretfully)

1. In a regretful manner, with regret.
   • The steak and chips partaken of for lunch seemed now to belong to another decade. He regretfully recognized the fact that he would not make a success of a hunger strike.1922, Agatha Christie, “Chapter 17”, in The Secret Adversary
   • So after learning a great deal about iron founding and much more about pike fishing, one regretfully took leave of a shop full of kindly characters and proceeded to a worse lot of odours in the brass foundry.1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 343

   Synonyms:

   sorrowfully, ruefully

2. (proscribed) Unfortunately, in a manner inspiring or deserving regret; used only as a sentence adverb (to introduce and modify an entire sentence).

   Synonyms:

   sadly, unfortunately, sad to say, regrettably, alas