wry
adjective/raɪ/
/raɪ/
[usually before noun]- showing that you think something is funny but also disappointing or annoying
- ‘At least we got one vote,’ she said with a wry smile.
- He pulled a wry face when I asked him how it had gone.
- funny in a way that shows irony
- It's a wry comedy about family life.
- a wry comment
- He didn't even seem to notice her wry humour.
- The film takes a wry look at the British class system.
Word Originearly 16th cent. (in the sense ‘contorted’): from Old English wrīgian ‘tend, incline’, in Middle English ‘deviate, swerve, contort’.
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wry