as in bitterly
with feelings of bitterness or grief
ruefully accepted the fact that the drunk driver would never adequately pay for his crime
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Recent Examples of ruefully
Xavier shakes his head, ruefully.
—
Jack Lang, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2025
Black and Richardson had shared books and talk—and, as Black ruefully admitted, cocaine—in the back room at Elaine’s.
—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
Jack Lang, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2025
Black and Richardson had shared books and talk—and, as Black ruefully admitted, cocaine—in the back room at Elaine’s.
—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ruefully
Adverb
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Tom’s final epiphany related to his estranged son isn’t earned, but not because of Ruffalo; his performance cuts a fine line between bitterly self-destructive and warmly spiritual.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
5 Sep. 2025
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San Francisco officials fought bitterly against Waymo and now-defunct Cruise robotaxis from General Motors, after their vehicles repeatedly blocked traffic and emergency vehicles, with Cruise the main perpetrator.—
Ethan Baron,
Mercury News,
5 Sep. 2025
Adverb
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The fates of so many were decided on the 1969 day when a dashing and sadly underestimated 25-year-old Colonel Qaddafi seized power from the monarchy in a matter of hours and promised a new golden era, inspired by Egypt’s President Nasser.—
Leila Latif,
IndieWire,
2 Sep. 2025
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Several months after sadly losing her childhood cat in 2023, Hannah Powell felt ready to open her heart to a rescue cat in need of a home.—
Alyce Collins,
MSNBC Newsweek,
2 Sep. 2025
Adverb
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Noah Baumbach’s painfully incisive portrait of a family divorce among a remarkably prickly family of Brooklyn intellectuals finds so many ways to showcase its characters’ most brittle sides.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
29 Aug. 2025
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There was a recognition Amorim’s predecessors had assembled a painfully lopsided squad, while the club had lacked a football structure since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in May 2013.—
Dan Cancian,
Forbes.com,
28 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ruefully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ruefully. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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