adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
I hate to be a nuisance .../Sorry to be a nuisance ...
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I hate to be a nuisance, but could you move your car to the other side of the street?
say sorry/say that you're sorry
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It was probably too late to say sorry.
say sorry/say that you're sorry
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It was probably too late to say sorry.
sorry to disturb you spoken (= said to apologize for interrupting what someone is doing )
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Sorry to disturb you, but could you sign this letter, please?
Sorry to keep you waiting
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Sorry to keep you waiting – I got stuck in a meeting.
terribly sorry
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I’m terribly sorry to have kept you waiting.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
how
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Housewife's choice I wish you and your staff to know how sorry I am that Punch is to be no more.
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I can't tell you how sorry I am, so you must just imagine it.
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Tell him how sorry you are for letting Satan influence your life.
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We'd been saying how awful it was, how sorry we were for Connie.
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She had left the previous night without speaking to him, without giving him the chance to say how sorry he was.
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He could tell her face to face how sorry he was for the incident of the previous night.
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It was tinged with panic too for finally he could only babble again and again how sorry he was.
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I can't tell you how sorry I am, Adam.
really
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I felt really sorry for Micky.
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J., screwing up one eve to show she was really sorry .
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She said it without spite as though she were really sorry .
so
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For a moment he was taken aback as he realised she was so sorry for him she was arranging a date.
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It is I who am so sorry for disturbing you.
terribly
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Sorry. Terribly sorry , darling.
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Rather than write: We are terribly sorry that our representative was abrupt on the telephone last Tuesday.
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She said she was terribly sorry to disturb him.
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He made me feel terribly sorry I had ever asked, but also terribly glad I'd been wrong.
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We are all terribly sorry and worried about this, as we don't know what has happened.
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Silvio's receptionist was always terribly sorry , but il signore was busy.
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I am terribly sorry this should have happened and I sincerely hope that we hear from them.
very
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He was sorry , very sorry, but that did not keep him from doing the same thing again and again.
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I am very sorry you feel no desire to overcome this condition.
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Tom Schutte, who does, was very sorry for the confusion, and has been forwarding calls to the appropriate bands.
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I felt very sorry for him then.
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I am very sorry and please forgive me.
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The long jacket of her black costume had lost all its buttons, and the skirt seemed very sorry for itself.
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We are also very sorry to all clubs and venues omitted from our mammoth listing of live music.
■ NOUN
sight
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It was, I now thought, a sorry sight .
state
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Overfishing alone is responsible for the sorry state of the pelagic fish populations.
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Welcome to the sorry state of the apology, when regrets seem to come most readily when they matter the least.
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When Howard first showed me his feet, they were in a sorry state .
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Given the sorry state of official records, the only hope is living memories or undiscovered data.
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Themes cover everything from the sorry state of the environment to how money corrupts on to how people are persecuted because of their appearance.
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Unfortunately the fish appeared to be in rather a sorry state .
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How did they allow this sorry state of affairs to come about?
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
better (to be) safe than sorry
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I think I'll take my umbrella along - better safe than sorry.
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Anyway, better safe than sorry.
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The overall message of precaution-better safe than sorry-has intuitive appeal.
come to a pretty/sorry pass
may I trouble you?/sorry to trouble you
sorry to bother you
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Art, it's Lisa again - sorry to keep bothering you.
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I am sorry to bother you with this news but I think it is for the best.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Sorry , but that part is out of stock.
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Oh, sorry , am I sitting in your chair?
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This whole sorry episode shows just how bad things have become.
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Turn in your pink form - sorry , your green form - by tomorrow.
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Well, I'm sorry , but to me, drugs are just not funny.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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But I can't feel sorry for him.
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I am sorry Ma has missed this, she would have been proud of me.
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I feel sorry for the besotted, exhausted businessmen, but it is the schoolkids on the train who break my heart.
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Jim Maier was sorry to see him go.
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Later he was sorry , and much later he was appreciative.
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Sir Oliver is sorry to hear that; but would he not be too smartly dressed to look like a money-lender?
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The whole thing was a sorry spectacle.