rueful

adjective

ˈrü-fəl How to pronounce rueful (audio)
Definition of ruefulnext
1
as in mournful
expressing or suggesting mourning the rueful faces of friends and family who had gathered to pay their last respects

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sorry
feeling sorrow for a wrong that one has done a rueful youth who had come to ask for forgiveness for online bullying

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in pitiful
deserving of one's pity the rueful, desperate poverty of people in parts of the Third World

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of rueful Marcus Semien — a 35-year-old second baseman less than a month into his first season in Queens — said, cracking a rueful smile. — Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 22 Apr. 2026 But Dear Nashville succeeds because Monroe’s songs are rueful rather than bitter, determined and occasionally defiant but never defeated. — Stephen M. Deusner, Pitchfork, 7 Apr. 2026 Metcalf and Pullman are both wonderful in their shuffling ordinariness, reenacting long-obsolete parental dynamics with a kind of rueful, hopeful denial. — Guy Lodge, Variety, 13 Feb. 2026 Her lips pressed in a rueful grin. — Richard Greenberg, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for rueful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rueful
  1. mournful
  2. sorry
  3. pitiful
  4. weeping
  5. ashamed
  6. pathetic
  7. heartbroken
  8. remorseful
Adjective
  • Since his siblings were crying with the same mournful expression, clinging to their father’s corpse, Shoichiro willed himself to cry too, and the tears came immediately.
    — Cynthia Zarin, Harpers Magazine, 4 Aug. 2026
  • But there’s something mournful, something searching about his statement, too.
    — Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 24 July 2026
Definition of mournful
Adjective
  • There has also always been a place for vice in fragrance (sorry to point out that classic diet cola and cigarettes, while very Gabbriette right now, are not actually good for you).
    — Loren Savini, Allure, 13 Aug. 2026
  • Evidence of silence quietly (sorry) breaking apart one’s bearings bleeds through both the main plot thread and satellite storylines, which include recurring visits to a client of Ninh’s and that man’s own conflicts with his distant wife.
    — Josh Slater-Williams, IndieWire, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of sorry
Adjective
  • Completing the hat trick in pitiful style, Taking on the World was shot on a shoestring budget, helmed by the man behind Highlander III, and forced to rely on stock footage of real-life footballers.
    — Jon O'Brien, Vulture, 26 June 2026
  • Given the national team’s pitiful demise at the Oval, with New Zealand completing victory on the fifth morning, Ben Stokes’ revival in absentia feels like the only consolation from a miserable week.
    — Hector Vickers, New York Times, 21 June 2026
Definition of pitiful
Adjective
  • And every day, across from them, outside the clinic, about to enter or just leaving, there were women hugging each other and weeping.
    — David Mamet, National Review, 11 Aug. 2022
  • The show manages to stay on the brink — always laughing, never quite weeping — for its entire length.
    — Helen Shaw, Vulture, 8 Dec. 2021
Definition of weeping
Adjective
  • This is classic Drake, turning the darker inner thoughts most people would be ashamed to admit into something almost beautiful.
    — Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 3 Aug. 2026
  • According to the Mental Health Foundation, almost one third of teenagers feel ashamed of some aspect of their body.
    — Kimberly Zapata, Parents, 19 July 2026
Definition of ashamed
Adjective
  • There was no pathetic pleading with the audience to come closer.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 7 Aug. 2026
  • North Texas Howard WKU Northwestern Rutgers Nebraska That's a pathetic first six weeks.
    — Zach Dean OutKick, FOXNews.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of pathetic
Adjective
  • Neighbors of the family told WABC they are heartbroken over the tragedy.
    — Gloria Pazmino, CNN Money, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Followers were heartbroken that their idol had, potentially, signed away his creation.
    — Kyle MacNeill, Rolling Stone, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of heartbroken
Adjective
  • To Tommy, Anna and Molly are twittering encumbrances, idiotic in their insistence on good works and the good of man, their endless remorseful hedgings about the Communist Party.
    — Cynthia Zarin, Harpers Magazine, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Outside the courtroom, attorney Eric Clayman told reporters that Watson is remorseful and didn’t want to hurt Ibrahim.
    — Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 2 July 2026
Definition of remorseful

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rueful
ruefully
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Cite this Entry

“Rueful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rueful. Accessed 15 Aug. 2026.

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