(sorrier, sorriest)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
You say ‘Sorry’ or ‘I’m ~’ as a way of apologizing to someone for something that you have done which has upset them or caused them difficulties, or when you bump into them accidentally.
‘We’re all talking at the same time.’—‘Yeah. Sorry.’...
Sorry I took so long...
Sorry for barging in like this...
I’m really ~ if I said anything wrong...
I’m ~ to call so late, but I need a favour...
The next morning she came into my room and said she was ~.
CONVENTION formulae
2.
If you are ~ about a situation, you feel regret, sadness, or disappointment about it.
She was very ~ about all the trouble she’d caused...
I’m ~ about what’s happened...
I’m ~ he’s gone...
He was ~ to see them go.
ADJ: v-link ADJ, usu ADJ about n, ADJ that/to-inf
3.
You use I’m ~ or ~ as an introduction when you are telling a person something that you do not think they will want to hear, for example when you are disagreeing with them or giving them bad news.
No, I’m ~, I can’t agree with you...
‘I’m ~,’ he told the real estate agent, ‘but we really must go now.’...
Sorry–no baths after ten o’clock...
I’m ~ to have to tell you that Janet West is dead.
CONVENTION
4.
You use the expression I’m ~ to say to express regret together with disappointment or disapproval.
I’ve only done half of it, I’m ~ to say...
This, I am ~ to say, is almost entirely wishful thinking.
PHRASE: PHR with cl, PHR that feelings
5.
You say ‘I’m ~’ to express your regret and sadness when you hear sad or unpleasant news.
I’ve heard about Mollie–I’m so ~...
‘I’m afraid he’s ill.’—‘I’m ~ to hear that.’
CONVENTION feelings
6.
If you feel ~ for someone who is unhappy or in an unpleasant situation, you feel sympathy and sadness for them.
I felt ~ for him and his colleagues–it must have been so frustrating for them...
I am very ~ for the family.
ADJ: v-link ADJ for n
7.
You say that someone is feeling ~ for themselves when you disapprove of the fact that they keep thinking unhappily about their problems, rather than trying to be cheerful and positive.
What he must not do is to sit around at home feeling ~ for himself.
ADJ: v-link ADJ for pron-refl disapproval
8.
You say ‘Sorry?’ when you have not heard something that someone has said and you want them to repeat it.
= pardon, excuse me
CONVENTION formulae
9.
You use ~ when you correct yourself and use different words to say what you have just said, especially when what you say the second time does not use the words you would normally choose to use.
Barcelona will be hoping to bring the trophy back to Spain–~, Catalonia–for the first time.
CONVENTION
10.
If someone or something is in a ~ state, they are in a bad state, mentally or physically.
The fire left Kuwait’s oil industry in a ~ state...
ADJ: ADJ n
11.
better safe than ~: see safe