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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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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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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Examples of rueful in a Sentence
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Recent Examples on the Web
Arrogantly rueful, Hartnett’s vicious killer has a flair for the dramatic, revealing, in the film’s final throes, to lead a semi-charmed kinda life.
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Nicholas Bell, SPIN, 4 Sep. 2024
Bank’s wry, matter-of-fact tone makes the stories’ many rueful asides, exquisitely funny similes and snappy one-liners all the more effective.
—Katherine A. Powers, Washington Post, 22 June 2024
The resulting series of escalating high jinks, which includes the use of blowfish poison, verges on the farcical, but the novel’s major chord is one of rueful longing.
—The New Yorker, 12 June 2024
Nadella quickly negotiated his return amid fears the company could split, and days later a rueful Sutskever apologized for his role in the mutiny.
—Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 15 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for rueful 
Nicholas Bell, SPIN, 4 Sep. 2024
Bank’s wry, matter-of-fact tone makes the stories’ many rueful asides, exquisitely funny similes and snappy one-liners all the more effective.
—Katherine A. Powers, Washington Post, 22 June 2024
The resulting series of escalating high jinks, which includes the use of blowfish poison, verges on the farcical, but the novel’s major chord is one of rueful longing.
—The New Yorker, 12 June 2024
Nadella quickly negotiated his return amid fears the company could split, and days later a rueful Sutskever apologized for his role in the mutiny.
—Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 15 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for rueful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rueful
Adjective
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Soon a mournful blue light would rise over the islands in the sea.Greg Jackson, The New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2024
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Of all on this list, perhaps this is the most mournful.Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 16 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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The Walking Dead used to be must-see TV, but years and years and years of mismanagement and AMC putting its faith in the wrong people have led us to this sorry state of affairs.Erik Kain, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2024
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But don’t feel too sorry for Arnault: Despite the latest wipeout, the 75-year-old still has $182 billion to his name, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune Europe, 16 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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Meanwhile, nearly one-third of election offices don’t have any full-time staff, wages are pitiful, and turnover rates grew from 28 percent in 2004—already high—to nearly 39 percent in 2022.Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 25 Oct. 2024
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The plight of Zimbabwe, moreover, remains pitiful, a once prosperous country not only reduced to economic ruin but also trapped in a culture of corruption and violence that Mugabe fostered since gaining power in 1980 and that is now deeply embedded among the ruling elite.Martin Meredith, Foreign Affairs, 13 Feb. 2018
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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Later, Pryor’s widow Jennifer confirmed the rumor, telling TMZ that her late husband was always open about his bisexuality with friends and would not be ashamed that the relationship was revealed publicly.Stephanie Petit, People.com, 5 Nov. 2024
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In Horse Crazy, Indiana’s first and best novel, his unnamed narrator invites a prospective boyfriend to his similarly cluttered apartment and feels ashamed—not of its mess, exactly, but of the sheer number of books on his shelves.Daniel Felsenthal, The Atlantic, 29 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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After a downright pathetic few weeks, the Russians regrouped—or at least got regrouped enough.Marco Rubio, Newsweek, 1 Nov. 2024
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The upcoming sequel to This Is Spinal Tap will be turning the pathetic knobs all the way to 11.Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 1 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Monét began her tweet with five heartbroken emojis.Anna Chan, Billboard, 4 Nov. 2024
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Animal lovers have been left heartbroken by a dog who has already been adopted and returned to the shelter twice in her young life.David Faris, Newsweek, 3 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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When deputies showed up at his home, Colin Gray did not appear remorseful, Ward testified.Devon M. Sayers, CNN, 22 Oct. 2024
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In jail, her friends had coached her to appear remorseful but not to cry, because no one likes self-pity.Lizzie Presser, ProPublica, 28 Sep. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near rueful
Cite this Entry
“Rueful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rueful. Accessed 17 Nov. 2024.
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