[ adv ] in an unfortunate or deplorable manner <adv.all> he was sadly neglectedit was woefully inadequate
Lamentable \Lam"en*ta*ble\, a. [L. lamentabilis: cf. F. lamentable.] 1. Mourning; sorrowful; expressing grief; as, a lamentable countenance. [Archaic] ``Lamentable eye.'' --Spenser.
2. Fitted to awaken lament; to be lamented; sorrowful; pitiable; regrettable; unfortunate; as, a lamentable misfortune, or error. ``Lamentable helplessness.'' --Burke.
3. Miserable; pitiful; paltry; -- in a contemptuous or ridiculous sense. --Bp. Stillingfleet. -- {Lam"en*ta*ble*ness}, n. -- {Lam"en*ta*bly}, adv.
"The United States was able to achieve tax reform, but it lamentably failed to achieve a balanced budget," said a jubilant Lawson, the top Treasury official who presented the budget to the House of Commons.
Friedman argues convincingly that Americans have been on a very long binge of living beyond their means by running up debt and selling off assets and, lamentably, the tab has been billed to the future.
The Fed's own initiative in providing reserves to the system has been lamentably subverted by conversion of those reserves into cash held by the public.