Synonyms for rueful
- adjective
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Mournful — causing, feeling, or expressing regret or sorrow, especially in a wry or humorous way
mournful, sorrowful, melancholy, doleful, lugubrious, plaintive, regretful, woeful, grievous, lamentable, sorry, depressing, regrettable, tragic, saddening, distressing, deplorable, dolorous, woebegone, tearful, heart-breaking, heart-rending
2. Dismal — bad; woeful; deplorable
dismal, hopeless, terrible, negative, unfavorable US, unfavourable UK, bleak, dreary, dire, lousy, miserable dated, crummy slang
3. Piteous — inspiring pity or compassion
piteous, pitiful, pitiable, pathetic, wretched, poor, ruthful, pitisome
4. Contrite
Definitions
- adj. 1
Causing, feeling, or expressing regret or sorrow, especially in a wry or humorous way.
- adj. 2
Inspiring pity or compassion.
- adj. 3
Bad; woeful; deplorable.
Related words
- Word family
- ruefully ruefulness rue
Example sentences
- mournful Tom stood at the window with a mournful expression on his face.
- plaintive The plaintive melody broke her heart.
- lugubrious I'd prefer to be called lugubrious rather than a sad sack.
- doleful My dog died yesterday, so I'm quite doleful.
- negative Positive atomic nuclei attract negative electrons.
- hopeless Lee did not agree that the situation was hopeless.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| rueful | rising | |
| mournful | rising | |
| plaintive | rising | |
| lugubrious | steady | |
| doleful | rising | |
| negative | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- poor1, dire1
- 5 letters
- sorry2, bleak1, lousy2
- 6 letters
- tragic2, dismal2, dreary2, woeful2, crummy2
- 7 letters
- pitiful3, tearful2, doleful2, piteous, ruthful
- 8 letters
- negative3, terrible3, pathetic3, hopeless2, wretched2, grievous2, mournful2, penitent3, contrite2, pitiable4, dolorous, pitisome
- 9 letters
- miserable4, sorrowful3, plaintive2, regretful3, repentant3, saddening3, woebegone3
- 10 letters
- depressing3, melancholy4, deplorable4, apologetic5, remorseful3, lamentable4, lugubrious4
- 11 letters
- distressing3, unfavorable5, regrettable4
- 12 letters
- unfavourable
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (sorry2 = 2 syllables).