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
Relevance
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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
On Wednesday, the designers were rueful about stepping down, but looked back on their long New York fashion adventure with fondness.
—
Miles Socha, WWD, 15 Jan. 2025
Nothing’s third episode, Kris Kristofferson’s rueful ballad is very much the latter.
—Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 24 Dec. 2024
What’s a cocky teenage boy to an English teacher in middle life and his rueful wife?
—Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 18 Oct. 2024
Baker clearly respects and admires Ani, and looks with rueful empathy at the severe orders and fearsome threats under which the three tough guys labor, the harsh yet frivolous upbringing that has left Vanya a terrified emotional baby.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for rueful
Miles Socha, WWD, 15 Jan. 2025
Nothing’s third episode, Kris Kristofferson’s rueful ballad is very much the latter.
—Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 24 Dec. 2024
What’s a cocky teenage boy to an English teacher in middle life and his rueful wife?
—Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 18 Oct. 2024
Baker clearly respects and admires Ani, and looks with rueful empathy at the severe orders and fearsome threats under which the three tough guys labor, the harsh yet frivolous upbringing that has left Vanya a terrified emotional baby.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for rueful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rueful
Adjective
-
The slow, mournful piano chords capture the somber bite of the scene with remarkable punch yet also a sobering stillness, and that’s before the elegiac words carry the song off into the sky.—
Daniel Dylan Wray,
Pitchfork,
8 May 2025
-
Wynette’s mournful lyrics about a partner who has left—will one protagonist leave the other during the game’s main campaign?—to the sound of lonely, sad acoustic country music is the flip side of Wang Chung’s carefree spirit.—
Brady Gerber,
Vulture,
7 May 2025
Adjective
-
That’s the million, sorry, billion-dollar question.—
Asli Pelit,
New York Times,
21 May 2025
-
Nobody is going to feel sorry for you, so keep your head up and keep moving forward.—
Abbey Mastracco,
New York Daily News,
21 May 2025
Adjective
-
But the rates were pitiful: $9.87 for a 13-mile trip, $19.97 for a 25-mile trip and so on.—
Eli Tan,
New York Times,
14 May 2025
-
Israel’s performance in climate mitigation, moving to renewable energies, is pitiful — just 12% when some countries are 70%.—
JTA Staff Report,
Sun Sentinel,
5 May 2025
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
Adjective
-
While red, inflamed skin was often seen as the norm, my flares—ranging from deep brown or purplish dry patches to clusters of tiny, itchy bumps—looked more like a disease to be feared and ashamed of rather than understood and treated.—
Raelle Kennedy,
Health,
12 May 2025
-
Otherwise, higher education will transform our sons and daughters into people who feel ashamed of themselves and hate their country.—
James Unnever,
The Orlando Sentinel,
10 May 2025
Adjective
-
No other governor, remember, has tried to pull off this pathetic budget stunt.—
Joe Soucheray,
Twin Cities,
10 May 2025
-
In his last, most pathetic years, Mark Twain threw himself behind the crackpot theory that the true author of Shakespeare’s plays may have been Francis Bacon.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
9 May 2025
Adjective
-
Stacy Melo, an east Arlington resident, told the City Council that she was left heartbroken and shocked the last time TotalEnergies came before council.—
Rachel Royster,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
8 May 2025
-
After everyone left, her husband apologized for his mother’s absence and thanked her for her hard work, but the experience left her heartbroken.—
Ashley Vega,
People.com,
8 May 2025
Adjective
-
The men should have been there, looking remorseful, but during the first two hearings at which a total of 23 men were charged, only two came in person.—
Wendy Murphy,
Boston Herald,
27 Mar. 2025
-
Gayle’s attorney, Diane Gonzalez, told McClatchy News that Gayle was remorseful and broke down on the stand when testifying.—
Olivia Lloyd,
Miami Herald,
16 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rueful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rueful. Accessed 27 May. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share