Word.ws English Dictionary

wryly

/ˈɹaɪli/

wryly adverb: in a wry or sarcastic manner; ironically.

Adverb

wryly (comparative more wryly, superlative most wryly)

  1. In a wry or sarcastic manner; ironically.
    • The sins of the father, she thought wryly. Well, they had visited Tony, all right—only he didn't know it.1966, Jacqueline Susann, Valley of the Dolls, Grove Press, published 1997, page 206
    • ‘The king is displeased with it, but he has to be patient,’ Chapuys wryly commented.1991, Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Grove Press, published 2000, page 219
  2. Of a facial expression, contortedly.
    • Rachel smiled wryly at Bryan, clearly showing her discomfort after being dragged into an unwanted interaction with him.
    • It was Joe, who had taken the gloves when the wicket-keeper went on to bowl.
      Mike grinned, wryly but gratefully.1909, P. G. Wodehouse, Mike

wryly meaning in Urdu

wryly in Urdu

ٹیڑھے پن سے

Examples of wryly in a sentence

  • A Ukrainian presidential adviser wrote that Kyiv had nothing to do with the attacks but then wryly compared them to Russia’s past use of proxy forces to fight in Ukraine.2023 May 22, Andrew Roth, “Anti-Putin militia claims to have overrun Russian border village”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
  • Croton smiled wryly but his cold eyes showed what he really thought of the captain's pyrotechnics.1970, Wally Ferris, Across 110th, page 50:

All 16 example sentences with wryly

Forms of wryly

comparativemore wryly
superlativemost wryly
alternative formwrily

Origin of wryly

From wry + -ly.

Words that rhyme with wryly

Questions about wryly

What does wryly mean?
Wryly means in a wry or sarcastic manner; ironically.
What is wryly in Urdu?
Wryly in Urdu is ٹیڑھے پن سے. See Wryly meaning in Urdu.
How do you use wryly in a sentence?
A Ukrainian presidential adviser wrote that Kyiv had nothing to do with the attacks but then wryly compared them to Russia’s past use of proxy forces to fight in Ukraine.
What part of speech is wryly?
Wryly is an adverb.
How do you pronounce wryly?
Wryly is pronounced /ˈɹaɪli/.

Words near wryly in the dictionary

  1. Wryes
  2. wryest
  3. wrying
  4. wrylie
  5. wrylies
  6. wryly
  7. wrymouth
  8. wrymouths
  9. wryneck
  10. wrynecked
  11. wrynecks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wryly (page history and authors); wryly (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-wryly.wav.

Cite this entry: “wryly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/wryly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.