"The Great War," used interchangeably with "the First World War" (so named in 1918 by a sardonic English journalist, who knew it would not be the last such conflict) … — Benjamin Schwarz , Atlantic ,

They have that brand of sardonic humor special to people up against it: black and wry and shocking … — Doris Lessing , New Yorker ,

In a story by Flaubert, this spreading of cloths to save the carpet would be observed with a sardonic eye; in Lawrence it is bleakly practical. — Hugh Kenner , A Sinking Island ,

The movie is a sardonic look at modern life.

a sardonic little jab that made her visitor quiet and subdued for the rest of the night