From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsadlysad‧ly /ˈsædli/ ●●○ adverb 1 SAD/UNHAPPYin a way that shows that you are sad SYN unhappily Peter shook his head sadly.2 [sentence adverb]PITY/IT'S A PITY unfortunately Sadly, the business failed.3 very much – used when talking about bad situations or states The garden’s been sadly neglected. Good restaurants were sadly lacking. He was a popular man who will be sadly missed. I’m afraid you’re going to be sadly disappointed. If you think you’ll get any money from him, you’re sadly mistaken.
Examples from the Corpus
sadly• Sadly, Anne suffered from emotional problems most of her life.• The man nodded sadly as though Hicks represented a mode of behavior with which he was wearily familiar.• Nick made a start at restoring the ravaged wreck, but sadly died before much was done.• Along with her husband, she escaped to Britain in 1938 but, sadly, her marriage failed.• From Tuesday weekly newspapers may be left with a burden which, sadly, many will be unable to carry.• Sam looked sadly out the window.• Alice was rushed to hospital, but sadly she died two hours later.• There are also, sadly, some which are not so beneficial.• Sadly, this fine old theatre was destroyed by fire in 1993.• Low wages are sadly typical in service industries.• This was all legal and proper, but in the execution of this work things went sadly wrong. 