rueful
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He flashes a rueful smile, "we're used to it, but it's pretty awful."
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
"I might have won the World Championship two years earlier than I did," said a rueful Higgins, who admitted that was one of his most painful losses in his 34-year professional career.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
It’s one of many smart, rueful asides in what amounts to a nonjudgmental cinematic essay on the increasingly atomized nature of contemporary living.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2025
“And then,” she says with a small, rueful laugh, “everything was really hard for the next 20 years.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2025
The swelling disappeared but where the silver wolf had kissed was now a rueful scar shaped like an X. It seeped for days.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
Vocabulary lists containing rueful
List 1
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Tuck Everlasting
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 8–13
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