dear me

1. Also, oh dear. A polite exclamation expressing surprise, distress, sympathy, etc. For example, Dear me, I forgot to mail it, or Oh dear, what a bad time you've been having. These usages may originally have invoked God, as in, which also continue to be so used. [Late 1600s]

Example Sentences

"Dear me," Si says simply, before turning away, too overwhelmed by the "big yawning gap" in the landscape.

From BBC

Dear me, what a depressing season this has been for them.

From BBC

But he became contemptuous of Boris Johnson, at one point saying "dear me, he really, really is awful" while being filmed after connecting remotely to a Covid meeting led by the then prime minister in 2020.

From BBC

"Dear me, he really, really is awful," he said.

From BBC

At first, she said, she thought: “‘Oh, no, dear me, I am a literary author.

From New York Times