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.
"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 was,” Duffy said with a rueful laugh.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 3, 2025
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
Take it from an internet addict now in rueful repair: this is the summer to slam your laptop shut, link arms with your friends, and go outside to touch some grass.
From Slate • Jun. 20, 2025
A rueful smile, a shrug, and a nod as if to a skillful opponent who’d made a good move at the chessboard: that was what her body said.
From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
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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