Synonyms for rue
- noun
- verb
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Noun
1. Regret — sorrow; repentance; regret
sorrow, grief, woe, misery, penitence, compunction, repentance, unhappiness, contrition, ruefulness, anguish, wretchedness, dejection, regret dated, ruth dated, remorse dated
2. Pity — pity; compassion
pity, sympathy, commiseration, compassion dated
Other
Verb
1. Repent — to feel sorrow or regret
mourn formal, grieve, bewail, deplore, lament, bemoan, repent dated, condole dated, aggrieve dated
2. Deprecate — to repent of or regret (some past action or event); to wish that a past action or event had not taken place
3. Feel sorry for — to feel compassion or pity; to take pity (on), to have compassion (on)
feel sorry for, commiserate, compassionate dated, mercify dated rare
4. Forthink — to cause to repent of sin or regret some past action
think over, forthink dated
Definitions
- n. 1
Sorrow; repentance; regret.
- n. 2
Pity; compassion.
- v. 1
To repent of or regret (some past action or event); to wish that a past action or event had not taken place.
I rued the day I crossed paths with her.
- v. 2
To cause to repent of sin or regret some past action.
Related words
- Word family
- rueful ruefully ruefulness
- Phrases
- common rue wild rue goat's rue
Choose the right word
One may grieve or mourn, regret, rue, or sorrow without a sound; he bemoans with suppressed and often inarticulate sounds of grief; he bewails with passionate utterance, whether of inarticulate cries or of spoken words.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- misery Tom blamed all his misery on planned obsolescence.
- unhappiness This created a lot of unhappiness in Yanni's life.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| rue | steady | |
| misery | rising | |
| unhappiness | rising | |
| ruefulness | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- woe1
- 4 letters
- ruth1, pity2
- 5 letters
- grief1, mourn1
- 6 letters
- regret2, misery3, sorrow2, repent2, grieve1, lament2, bemoan2, bewail, deject2
- 7 letters
- remorse2, anguish2, depress2, deplore2, condole, mercify
- 8 letters
- sympathy3, aggrieve2, forthink
- 9 letters
- penitence, dejection, deprecate3
- 10 letters
- compassion3, repentance3, contrition3, ruefulness, afterthink
- 11 letters
- unhappiness4, compunction3, commiserate4
- 12 letters
- wretchedness
- 13 letters
- compassionate4, commiseration
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (pity2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- rue fétide