1
as in mournful
expressing or suggesting mourning
the rueful faces of friends and family who had gathered to pay their last respects
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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
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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
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Recent Examples of rueful
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
But most of my friends grimace and then, after a rueful joke, move on to other topics.
—Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2024
The book also has a complicated, somewhat rueful take on race.
—Charles McGrath, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for rueful
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
But most of my friends grimace and then, after a rueful joke, move on to other topics.
—Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2024
The book also has a complicated, somewhat rueful take on race.
—Charles McGrath, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for rueful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rueful
Adjective
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This is a love story, after all, and one with a keen grasp of the mournful, curious glances between its two leads — of how much goes untranslated between them, and how much is conveyed.—
Sheri Linden,
New York Times,
27 Mar. 2025
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In a circular frame at the center of the screen, still images and footage of the deceased played over the swelling, mournful music in a static shot anchoring the four-and-a-half-minute segment, which was capped off by a final photograph of Hackman.—
Dade Hayes,
Deadline,
2 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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There are though enumerable other options available, sorry to say.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
4 Apr. 2025
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Curiously, over the decades that followed, writers could not resist the urge to project a big fat chip (sorry) onto the shoulders of England’s capital city.—
Amiel Stanek,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
4 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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But the modern Democratic Party, rudderless and confused and reeling from a pitiful collective performance during Tuesday evening's presidential joint address to Congress, now confronts a fork in the road that's no joke.—
Newsweek,
Newsweek,
7 Mar. 2025
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My performance was beyond pitiful today, and has been for a while now.—
Ryan Morik,
Fox News,
3 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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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
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The show manages to stay on the brink — always laughing, never quite weeping — for its entire length.—
Helen Shaw,
Vulture,
8 Dec. 2021
Adjective
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The young Jamie desperately wants his father’s approval, but his dad is ashamed of him.—
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox,
Forbes.com,
5 Apr. 2025
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Waging war on Denmark is wrong and will damage U.S. defense and foreign relations for decades We Americans should be ashamed of ourselves and of our government.—
Edward Lotterman,
Twin Cities,
29 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Hechinger is the perfect choice for the role, bringing just the right of optimism and obliviousness to an endearingly pathetic dork who finds the opportunity to be heroic.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
2 Apr. 2025
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Successful long ago, Shelley is no longer a selling Machine of any sort, and mostly just begs for a break in comically desperate appeals that ping-pong from belligerent to pathetic.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Since the release of his revered 2007 debut For Emma, Forever Ago – a cult-classic isolation record composed by a heartbroken Vernon in a cabin in the Wisconsin woods – the musician has transformed himself time and time again.—
Leah Lu,
Rolling Stone,
7 Apr. 2025
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His heartbroken wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, and their son, both U.S. citizens, have sued the government demanding his return.—
Rebecca Morin,
USA Today,
4 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Eric claims to be remorseful, and makes a big point of it.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
5 Apr. 2025
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Hoffman acknowledges the crime and is deeply remorseful, his attorney, Cecelia Kappel, told USA TODAY.—
Amanda Lee Myers,
USA TODAY,
18 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rueful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rueful. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
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