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
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Recent Examples of rueful
Dumont’s spirit of derision imbues his allegory with outrageous humor and rueful melancholy.
—
Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2025
Perkins’s follow-up, The Monkey—adapted from a short story by Stephen King—is another tonally wild take on the horror genre: arch, gleefully gory, and played for dark, rueful laughs.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 21 Feb. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for rueful
Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2025
Perkins’s follow-up, The Monkey—adapted from a short story by Stephen King—is another tonally wild take on the horror genre: arch, gleefully gory, and played for dark, rueful laughs.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 21 Feb. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for rueful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rueful
Adjective
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For that reason, the show would have always been the curator’s natural point of entry even without this year’s mournful context.—
Ben Croll,
Variety,
12 June 2025
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For May 1966’s expansive Pet Sounds, Wilson and lyricist Tony Asher created a song cycle documenting a passage from youthful innocence to mournful adulthood that the composer contrasted with delicately sophisticated yet openhearted orchestrations.—
Barry Walters,
Billboard,
11 June 2025
Adjective
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Plus, sorry to the folks who aspire to that Jane Austen type of love, but life doesn't always work out that way, okay?—
Jessica Wang,
EW.com,
13 June 2025
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With Los Angeles production levels in a sorry state, underemployed workers are flocking to a format that’s faster, shorter, cheaper and quite literally overturns film and TV norms.—
Katie Kilkenny,
HollywoodReporter,
12 June 2025
Adjective
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For better or worse, high-end eco-resorts of this type tend to focus on hyper-local ingredients often grown in a pitiful little garden behind the kitchen.—
Christopher Cameron,
Robb Report,
30 May 2025
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From ’01 to ’20, the Knicks played in only 30 postseason games, posting a pitiful 9-21 record.—
Rohan Nadkarni,
NBC news,
18 May 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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Up until now, though, those flashbacks, while frustrating, were explaining something about the characters, if crudely: This is why Sister Agnes blames herself; this is why Brian feels so ashamed.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
11 June 2025
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The mother felt ashamed that her son had missed so much school.—
Steven Walker,
The Orlando Sentinel,
5 June 2025
Adjective
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Anyone who tells you different is a liar (and pathetic, and alone in life).—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
30 May 2025
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The politicized fantasy and horror films by Ryan Coogler and Jordan Peele are merely pathetic.—
Armond White,
National Review,
23 May 2025
Adjective
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Courtesy of Lionsgate The heartbroken little girl with the ballerina music box will grow up to be Ana de Armas’ Eve Macarro, a young woman bent on—what else?—avenging her father’s murder.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
6 June 2025
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The second track on the LP told the story of a heartbroken barmaid pining after a sailor who refused to give up his nomadically maritime lifestyle for her.—
Josh Weiss,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2025
Adjective
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But for once, or maybe twice, Hill seemed genuinely remorseful and reflective this week.—
Omar Kelly,
Miami Herald,
28 May 2025
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Rose gambled on the game, lied about it for years and never seemed truly remorseful.—
Ryan Morik,
FOXNews.com,
14 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rueful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rueful. Accessed 20 Jun. 2025.
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