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
Watch Swift ruefully recount how Sheeran found out about her engagement above.
—
Shania Russell, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Oct. 2025
Annoyingly, the line was all McNamara, D'Arcy points out ruefully.
—Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 18 Sep. 2025
Jon Stewart, ever the happy employee in his running joke of begrudgingly working Monday nights at The Daily Show, ruefully acknowledged being back at his post after being on vacation for over a month.
—Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 8 Sep. 2025
At some point Crockett looks at me ruefully and apologizes for being such a downer.
—Stephanie McNeal, Glamour, 5 Sep. 2025
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
Shania Russell, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Oct. 2025
Annoyingly, the line was all McNamara, D'Arcy points out ruefully.
—Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 18 Sep. 2025
Jon Stewart, ever the happy employee in his running joke of begrudgingly working Monday nights at The Daily Show, ruefully acknowledged being back at his post after being on vacation for over a month.
—Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 8 Sep. 2025
At some point Crockett looks at me ruefully and apologizes for being such a downer.
—Stephanie McNeal, Glamour, 5 Sep. 2025
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ruefully
Adverb
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The Thrombeys argue bitterly about politics, money, and immigration.—
Anna Russell,
New Yorker,
10 Nov. 2025
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The federal government shutdown enters its 21st day – headed toward its fourth week – as Democrats and Republicans remain bitterly divided over how to resolve rising health care costs.—
Bart Jansen,
USA Today,
21 Oct. 2025
Adverb
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Ambiguity fuels risk, and risk, sadly, often fuels the potential for escalation.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Nov. 2025
-
Rae sadly died in 2018 after being diagnosed with bone cancer.—
Michele Corriston,
PEOPLE,
2 Nov. 2025
Adverb
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When cases do move forward, justice is often partial and painfully slow, with proceedings stretching on for years and often failing to bring those ultimately responsible to justice.—
Scott Griffen,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 Nov. 2025
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Even if inflation was falling, prices were still rising – just more slowly, and from painfully high levels.—
David Goldman,
CNN Money,
4 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ruefully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ruefully. Accessed 12 Nov. 2025.
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