`I made a big mistake,' he said ruefully.    From Wordnet, Princeton University. 

Adjective : a rueful plight. ,the rueful look on her face.    From Dictionary.com. 

"I'm just hungry to sit on your knee a little while; but," ruefully, "I s'pose you haven't time.".    From Wordnik.com.  [Elsie's Kith and Kin] Reference

"If you are Luo, they chop you," he said ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [Gangs of Nairobi] Reference

Ohio, Mellman ruefully recalls, was the real No. 1.    From Wordnik.com.  [The States of Play] Reference

"It's change for change's sake," Gelb writes ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [Why Washington Worries] Reference

"That's the one advantage of pots," Grant says ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [Gardens: Roof gardens] Reference

"You told a whole bookful that time," said Tom ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [Army Boys on German Soil Our Doughboys Quelling the Mobs] Reference

"" We tried to find common ground, '' Bean says ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Eye Of The Storm] Reference

Carol and Dude already seem married, Carly said ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [Primary Creative] Reference

Mother and daughter looked at each other rather ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [Nan Sherwood at Pine Camp or, the Old Lumberman's Secret] Reference

"Ice-cream and a drink of ice water," said Mollie ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Outdoor Girls at Wild Rose Lodge Or, the hermit of Moonlight falls] Reference

"I do wish we'd started six months earlier," he says ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [THE VOTERS: SHEPHERDING THE FLOCK] Reference

"Yes," replied Anne, looking ruefully at the overflowing trunk.    From Wordnik.com.  [Grace Harlowe's Senior Year at High School] Reference

"I felt anything but dramatic at the time," said Allen ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Outdoor Girls in Army Service Or, doing their bit for the soldier boys] Reference

"They don't have the napkin dispensers anymore," he says ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [Ways of Seeing] Reference

It wasn't exactly high dudgeon, though, as he was smiling ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [England v Pakistan – as it happened!] Reference

"I guess that's it," admitted Tom ruefully, after a minute's thought.    From Wordnik.com.  [Tom Swift in Captivity, or a Daring Escape By Airship] Reference

Says one of the recent arrivals ruefully: "We are just small creatures.".    From Wordnik.com.  [Still On The Wing] Reference

"I never stopped to think what he might do, father," said Grace ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [Grace Harlowe's Senior Year at High School] Reference

"You hate to think you may have brought him to the lion," he says ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [From Moonwalk To Perp Walk] Reference

"That's a nice way to put it, Suze," her mother, Rita Rubin, says ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  ['MY MIND BEGAN TO WAKE UP'] Reference

"'Spellbound' made a ton of money, and we went on a binge," he says ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [How Much Did ‘Taxi to the Dark Side’ Earn at the American Box Office?] Reference

"There was one night I happened to have something to drink," she said ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [Onstage with Idol Kelly Clarkson] Reference

"I didn't know," she added ruefully, her foot on the accelerator as they sped up.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Outdoor Girls at Wild Rose Lodge Or, the hermit of Moonlight falls] Reference

"There isn't any hay to hit, worse luck," said Bart, looking about him ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [Army Boys on German Soil Our Doughboys Quelling the Mobs] Reference

Betty ruefully, carefully putting away her own knitting and preparing for action.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Outdoor Girls in Army Service Or, doing their bit for the soldier boys] Reference

"We're damned if we do and damned if we don't," said one senior official ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [Terror Watch: Deconstructing the Intelligence] Reference

( "" He was very good ... personable, eloquent, '' Sexton ruefully told NEWSWEEK.).    From Wordnik.com.  ['He Walked Like Us, He Talked Like Us'] Reference

Here little Miss Pix shook her head ruefully at the vision of herself sick and alone.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 87, January, 1865] Reference

"Well, as I haven't anything else to do now, it isn't much loss," spoke Tom, ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [Tom Swift and His Photo Telephone or the Picture That Saved a Fortune] Reference

Mollie looked down at her dripping clothes ruefully and then out at the rushing water.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Outdoor Girls at Wild Rose Lodge Or, the hermit of Moonlight falls] Reference

"Well, I don't know but what it was mighty foolish to think of it," said Betty ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Outdoor Girls in Army Service Or, doing their bit for the soldier boys] Reference

  “And so I found myself an orphan and a billionaire all at once,” she ruefully said.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Bludgeoning of a Burgeoning Young Artist] Reference

"You certainly tried hard enough to convince me that you didn't," she interrupted ruefully.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Hermit of Far End] Reference

But one of McCain's own aides ruefully said with a laugh, "He may have used stronger language.".    From Wordnik.com.  [Senator Hothead] Reference