How to Use wan in a Sentence

wan

1 of 2 adjective
  • Many spots played it safe, with wan jokes that felt even lamer than usual.
    — Seth Stevenson, Slate Magazine, 6 Feb. 2017
  • Glenn, more slight, in the wan way of rock stars, slides in beside him.
    — Sarah Scoles, Longreads, 8 June 2018
  • Spicer parried the onslaught with a wan smile and mumbled non sequiturs.
    — Seth Stevenson, Slate Magazine, 10 Apr. 2017
  • Even his wan but real identity as a black man and a hustler is robbed from him by the cops.
    — San Francisco Chronicle, 27 Feb. 2018
  • Many visitors take selfies, and the wan faces that stare back at them from their screens float adrift in nothing.
    — I.w., The Economist, 18 July 2019
  • Melania’s surfacings since the election have been sparse, wan, and imbued with pathos.
    — James Wolcott, The Hive, 19 June 2017
  • Of course, censorship shapes crime writing here, which to some can make the genre seem relatively wan.
    — New York Times, 4 June 2018
  • The orchestra was sometimes wan but at other points gorgeously full.
    — Laura Bleiberg, latimes.com, 30 July 2017
  • Due in part to the lack of widespread public interest, the show got few reviews, with most offering wan praise at best.
    — Emma Grey Ellis, WIRED, 8 June 2018
  • Last week, the slim 33-year-old with shaggy brown hair juggled a soccer ball on Seattle U’s field, looking fit, if a bit wan.
    — Katherine Long, The Seattle Times, 10 June 2017
  • After all, when temperatures dip, skin loses its glow, and hair is slicked back under a hat, a statement brow is key to bringing structure and charm to a wan winter face.
    — Monica Kim, Vogue, 12 Feb. 2018
  • The 1950s are now remembered as an age of wan conventionality.
    — Mona Charen, National Review, 8 Sep. 2017
  • In the Edwardian era, his wan faces set in sumptuous dreamscapes came to seem as lifeless as Queen Victoria herself.
    — J.s. Marcus, WSJ, 19 Oct. 2018
  • And while Asako is meant to be shown as repressing her feelings, Karata’s performance itself feels wan and underimagined.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 24 July 2019
  • The churros are extra crispy, stopping just short of being overdone; however, the accompanying chocolate sauce tasted wan.
    — Michael Bauer, San Francisco Chronicle, 26 Jan. 2018
  • Minor, inconsequential, wan, harshly acidic are among the ways it is usually described — fit only as the base wine for a kir, an aperitif made by blending it with crème de cassis.
    — Eric Asimov, New York Times, 28 June 2018
  • Would Jalen Hurts show some improvement as a passer after producing a wan stat line in the opener against Florida State?
    — Matt Scalici, AL.com, 9 Sep. 2017
  • The distinguished pianist Radu Lupu was the soloist for a curiously wan performance of the Mozart concerto.
    — Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, 10 May 2017
  • For decades bobal served primarily as the raw material for bulk wines produced by cooperatives, either for local consumption or export, where it was used to beef up wan reds.
    — Eric Asimov, New York Times, 21 June 2018
  • But his opening statement sounded tonally thin and emotionally wan, while his breathless treatment of the second movement scherzo offered more velocity than insight.
    — Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 13 June 2019
  • After 75 years, the gap between the muscular economic reality and America’s wan self-image is enormous.
    — David Von Drehle, Twin Cities, 6 June 2019
  • Others, like 10 Rittenhouse in Philadelphia, bear only a wan resemblance to the majestic architectural bluffs of Manhattan.
    — Inga Saffron, Philly.com, 4 Apr. 2018
  • The wan outreach to the public at large hasn’t spurred broad support for the bill; a Quinnipiac University poll found that only 17 percent of Americans backed the proposal — and that was before preexisting conditions were put at risk.
    — Philip Bump, Washington Post, 2 May 2017

WAN

2 of 2 noun
  • Minor ripples such as the shift from on-prem to cloud and the evolution to SD-WAN networks will be pivotal points of interest in the story.
    — Anand Oswal, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026
  • At the United Nations and the Council of Europe, WAN-IFRA holds consultative status.
    — Marlen Bartsch, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Apr. 2026
  • Google, a pioneer in AI, has a deep trove of AI IP as well as networking technology that can be used to build multicloud connectivity across the WAN.
    — R. Scott Raynovich, Forbes.com, 22 Jan. 2026
  • Next, look for settings labeled Remote Access, Remote Management, Web Access from WAN, or Cloud Access.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 24 Apr. 2026
  • Along with the World Editors Forum, WAN-IFRA offers a variety of ways to promote the dissemination of information among its members.
    — Marlen Bartsch, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Apr. 2026
  • Use Cases That Are Redefining Industry Retail chains use SD-WAN and LTE failovers to keep transactions flowing during outages.
    — Lori Thomas, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
  • In addition to these core missions, WAN-IFRA promotes the use of innovative and sustainable technology and business models by the newspaper industry as well as the financial support of independent news publishers.
    — Marlen Bartsch, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Apr. 2026
  • Representing its members, WAN-IFRA works on issues involving technical standards, media ownership, copyright, digital policy, and freedom of expression.
    — Marlen Bartsch, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Apr. 2026
  • The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) is a global representative of news publishers and the press.
    — Marlen Bartsch, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Apr. 2026
  • These providers launch private wireless networks in weeks, pivot from legacy multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) to cloud-native SD-WAN and remediate cybersecurity threats at the mobile edge, even before an alert.
    — Lori Thomas, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
  • The finished home, known simply as the Gasworks, won praise and accolades for its daring balance of industry and intimacy, including the Sunday Times Home Award and shortlistings for the RIBA, WAN, and Blueprint awards.
    — Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 12 Nov. 2025
  • Meanwhile, security vendors are moving post-quantum protection from theory into live enterprise security platforms by embedding quantum-safe encryption into secure access service edge (SASE), zero trust, secure web gateways and wide area network (WAN) connectivity.
    — Michelle Drolet, Forbes.com, 26 June 2026
  • Aims Amid changing reading habits, the increase in multichannel journalism, and the evolution of monetization strategies, WAN-IFRA continues to pursue fundamental objectives such as press freedom, quality journalism, and technological innovation.
    — Marlen Bartsch, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Apr. 2026
  • Notable examples include the World Printers Forum, an organization of suppliers and printers within WAN-IFRA, and a range of research publications, industry reports, and thematic initiatives dedicated to business strategies, digital media, content, press freedom, and news publishing operations.
    — Marlen Bartsch, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Apr. 2026
  • With this context in mind, ESA has launched the Hydrogen Oxidizing Bacteria in Weightlessness as a Source of Nutrition (HOBI-WAN) project, as part of its Terrae Novae Exploration Programme.
    — Chris Young, Interesting Engineering, 10 Nov. 2025
  • In the mid-2020s, WAN-IFRA expanded through mergers with other global media associations, including DistriPress (2024) and FIPP (2026), broadening its scope across the wider media and publishing industry.
    — Marlen Bartsch, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wan.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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