What is "sorry"

Sorry \Sor"ry\, a. [Compar. Sorrier; superl. Sorriest.] [OE. sory, sary, AS. s[=a]rig, fr. s[=a]r, n., sore. See Sore, n. & a. The original sense was, painful; hence, miserable, sad.]

1. Grieved for the loss of some good; pained for some evil; feeling regret; -- now generally used to express light grief or affliction, but formerly often used to express deeper feeling. ``I am sorry for my sins.''
   --Piers Plowman.

   Ye were made sorry after a godly manner.
   --2 Cor. vii. 9.

   I am sorry for thee, friend; 't is the duke's pleasure.
   --Shak.

   She entered, were he lief or sorry.
   --Spenser.

2. Melancholy; dismal; gloomy; mournful.
   --Spenser.

   All full of chirking was this sorry place.
   --Chaucer.

3. Poor; mean; worthless; as, a sorry excuse. ``With sorry grace.''
   --Chaucer.

   Cheeks of sorry grain will serve.
   --Milton.

   Good fruit will sometimes grow on a sorry tree.
   --Sir W. Scott.

   Syn: Hurt; afflicted; mortified; vexed; chagrined; melancholy; dismal; poor; mean; pitiful.

Old English sarig "distressed, grieved, full of sorrow" (not found in the physical sense of "sore"), from Proto-Germanic *sairiga- "painful" (cognates: Old Saxon serag, Middle Dutch seerigh "sore; sad, sorry," Dutch zeerig "sore, full of sores," Old High German serag, Swedish sårig "sore, full of sores"), from *sairaz "pain" (physical and mental); related to *saira- "suffering, sick, ill" (see sore (adj.)). Meaning "wretched, worthless, poor" first recorded mid-13c. Spelling shift from -a- to -o- by influence of sorrow. Apologetic sense (short for I'm sorry) is attested from 1834; phrase sorry about that popularized 1960s by U.S. TV show "Get Smart." Related: Sorrily; sorriness.

a. 1 (context of a person English) regretful for an action; grieved or saddened, especially by the loss of something or someone. 2 Poor, sad or regrettable. interj. 1 Expresses regret, remorse, or sorrow. 2 Used as a request for someone to repeat something not heard or understood clearly. n. The act of saying sorry; an apology.

1. adj. keenly sorry or regretful; "felt bad about letting the team down"; "was sorry that she had treated him so badly"; "felt bad about breaking the vase" [syn: bad]

2. feeling or expressing sorrow or pity; "a pitying observer threw his coat around her shoulders"; "let him perish without a pitying thought of ours wasted upon him"- Thomas De Quincey [syn: pitying, sorry for(p)]

3. having regret or sorrow or a sense of loss over something done or undone; "felt regretful over his vanished youth"; "regretful over mistakes she had made" [syn: regretful] [ant: unregretful]

4. feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses [syn: contrite, remorseful, rueful, ruthful]

5. bad; unfortunate; "my finances were in a deplorable state"; "a lamentable decision"; "her clothes were in sad shape"; "a sorry state of affairs" [syn: deplorable, distressing, lamentable, pitiful, sad]

6. depressing in character or appearance; "drove through dingy streets"; "the dismal prison twilight"- Charles Dickens; "drab old buildings"; "a dreary mining town"; "gloomy tenements"; "sorry routine that follows on the heels of death"- B.A.Williams [syn: dingy, dismal, drab, drear, dreary, gloomy]

7. without merit; "a sorry horse"; "a sorry excuse"; "a lazy no-count, good-for-nothing goldbrick"; "the car was a no-good piece of junk" [syn: good-for-nothing, good-for-naught, meritless, no-account, no-count, no-good]

8. [also: sorriest, sorrier]

Sorry may refer to:

"Sorry" is a song by American singer Madonna from her tenth studio album Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005). It was written and produced by Madonna and Stuart Price, and released as the second single from the album on February 7, 2006. It later appeared on Celebration, her 2009 greatest hits album. An uptempo dance song, "Sorry" was one of the first tracks developed for the album and had numerous remix treatments before the ultimate version of the track was finalized. One of the remixes was done by the Pet Shop Boys, featuring added lyrics by the band. The actual song features a dance groove tempo. It talks about personal empowerment and self-sufficiency.

"Sorry" received positive reviews from contemporary critics, who declared the track the strongest song on Confessions on a Dance Floor. Some critics also commented on the song's disco-influenced beats while comparing it to Madonna's older dance songs. It achieved commercial success, topping the singles charts in Italy, Spain, Romania and the United Kingdom, where it became Madonna's twelfth number one single. Elsewhere, the song was a top ten hit. However, in the United States, the song did not perform well due to an underplay on radio but was able to reach the top of Billboards dance charts and became one of the decade's most successful dance hits.

The accompanying music video, directed by Madonna's choreographer Jamie King, was a continuation from the " Hung Up" music video. It featured Madonna and her dancers roaming around a city in a van, dancing on roller skates and Madonna fighting with a group of men in a cage. She performed the song on her 2006 Confessions Tour in a similar fight sequence to that shown in the video. An additional video was created as a backdrop for a remix of the song, which depicted political leaders and scenes of war and destruction.

The Bic Runga single "Sorry" was released as a single only in Australia and Germany; the Australian version of the single included music videos of the songs "Sway" and " Suddenly Strange".

Sorry aka Gomen is a 2002 Japanese film by director Shin Togashi. It is a coming of age drama about the confusion of first love set in Kyoto and Osaka, Japan. It was the debut feature for many of the child actors, including the leads Masahiro Hisano (Sei) and Yukika Sakuratani (Nao), and the second film by director Togashi.

"Sorry" is a single by the band Madness, released in March 2007 as a stand-alone single, not included on any album. Unusually for Madness, it is a song that was written for them by outside writers -- all previous Madness singles had been either original compositions by the band, or covers of previously existing tunes. "Sorry" was given to them by their new management group to fill the gap between The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1 and The Liberty of Norton Folgate; Madness themselves worked on the song enough to gain a co-writer credit on the finished track.

In an attempt to gain more air play from a variety of radio stations, two different versions of the song were issued. One version featured just the band, while a second featured an interlude from UK rap artists Sway DaSafo and Baby Blue.

The band brought it out via their own label Lucky 7 Records, entering the UK chart at #23 on Sunday 11 March 2007, their highest UK chart single entry since " Lovestruck" in 1999. The single also went to #1 on the UK Indie Chart. At the time, guitarist Chris Foreman had left Madness, and does not feature on the single or the video. This is the only Madness track Foreman does not appear on.

"Sorry" is the 4th single to be taken from the debut album First Comes First by Kingston upon Hull band The Paddingtons. Released on 17 October 2005, it is their 4th single in total, and has been listed for 1 week on the UK Top 40. It entered the chart on position 41.

Released over three formats it featured 3 previously unreleased songs, the details of which are listed below:

"Sorry" is a single by Jamaican singer and actress Grace Jones, released in 1976.

"Sorry" is a ballad by American hard rock band Buckcherry. It is their fifth and final single from their third album, 15. It was not originally planned to be a single, but after increasing popularity on mainstream radio, the band made a video and officially released the song.

Sorry is a 2007 novel by Australian author Gail Jones.

"Sorry" is a 1966 song and single by Australian rock group The Easybeats, which was written by band members George Young and Stevie Wright. It peaked at #1 on the Australian Go-Set's National Top 40 in mid November 1966. It remained at #1 on the Australian Charts for 2 weeks in November 1966.

"Sorry" is a song recorded by American singer Ciara. It was written by Ciara, Elvis "Blac" Williams, and Jasper Cameron, and produced by Harris and Cameron. The song premiered alongside its music video on September 13, 2012, and was released as a digital download two weeks later on September 25, 2012. Epic Records serviced the single to urban contemporary and rhythmic radio in the United States on October 9, 2012. "Sorry" is a midtemp R&B ballad with production akin to Ciara's previous single, " Promise" (2006). Lyrically, the song speaks on a relationship gone bad, and has been described as an autobiography.Sorry has since been certified gold in 2015.

"Sorry" received mixed reviews from music critics, some of whom praised its lyricism and vocals and saw it as Ciara's return to her best sound, while other's criticized it for sounding "watered-down" and felt it didn't live up to the standard set forth by Ciara's past hits. The single was moderately successful, as it managed to chart within the top fifty on the US and UK R&B charts and reached the top ten on the US dance chart, making it her first single to do so.

The song's accompanying music video, directed by Christopher Sims, was filmed in Malibu, California and features Ciara demonstrating distance between herself and on-screen lover, model Broderick Hunter, while dancing in solo scenes. Ciara performed the song on BET's Black Girls Rock! awards and on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the United States. On December 3, 2012, Ciara's boyfriend, rapper Future, released an official remix for the song featuring new production, new vocals, and verses. Ciara's new hair Image created by Celebrity Hairstylist, MateoJon (Janet Jackson, Serena Williams, Black Eyed Peas). Gained her recognition in the Fashion Industry.

Sorry is the second album by Canadian punk rock band White Lung, released in May 29, 2012 on Deranged Records. New Jersey's Aquarian Weekly reported that the album "earned them a hearty critical reception at SXSW".

"Sorry" is a song by American hip hop recording artist T.I.. The song was released on November 27, 2012, as the fourth official single from his eighth studio album Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head (2012). The single, which was produced by American record producer Jazze Pha, features a guest verse from fellow Atlanta-based rapper André 3000, of Southern hip hop group OutKast.

"Sorry" is the debut single by American singer Naya Rivera featuring rapper Big Sean. The song was released on September 17, 2013, as the lead single from her debut album.

Sorry is the debut studio album recorded by American singer-songwriter Meg Myers. The album was released September 18, 2015 via Atlantic Records on CD, digital download, and on vinyl.

"Sorry" is a song recorded by Canadian singer Justin Bieber for his fourth studio album, Purpose (2015). Written by Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter, Sonny Moore, Michael Tucker and Bieber; the song was produced by Skrillex and Blood. It was released on October 23, 2015, as the second single from the album. A dancehall-pop and tropical house song, "Sorry" contains in its instrumentation "brassy horn bleats", warm island rhythms and a dembow riddim beat. Lyrically, "Sorry" is a plea for a chance to apologize to a lover, with Bieber asking forgiveness and a second chance to redeem himself.

Commercially, the song achieved international success, topping the charts of thirteen countries. It spent 7 weeks at number one on the Canadian Hot 100 and 3 weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100; "Sorry" was replaced by third single " Love Yourself" on the chart dated February 13, 2016, making Bieber the 12th act in the Hot 100's history to succeed himself at number one. He also accomplished the same feat in the United Kingdom, becoming the third act ever to self-replace at the top of the UK Singles Chart.