Synonyms of rueful

rueful

adjective

ˈrü-fəl 

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

• mournful
• weeping
• heartbroken
• funeral
• bitter
• melancholy
• sad
• anguished
• grieving
• sorrowful
• regretful
• doleful
• wailing
• tearful
• plaintive
• lamentable
• lugubrious
• somber
• sorry
• agonized
• unhappy
• aching
• dolorous
• plangent
• woeful
• depressed
• crying
• funereal
• morbid
• bleak
• dark
• elegiac
• bewailing
• deploring
• bemoaning
• pathetic
• dolesome
• dejected
• disconsolate
• downcast
• glum
• heartsick
• crestfallen
• keening
• miserable
• dispirited
• woebegone
• forlorn
• despondent
• gloomy
• moody
• darkening
• careworn
• inconsolable
• sullen
• pessimistic
• piteous
• morose
• desolate
• groaning
• brokenhearted
• cheerless
• downhearted
• gray
• howling
• bleeding
• moaning
• saturnine
• joyless
• black
• low-spirited
• heartsore
• dismal
• low
• suffering
• dirgelike
• wretched
• dreary
• comfortless
• triste
• bawling
• yammering

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• triumphant
• happy
• joyful
• cheerful
• delighted
• cheery
• bright
• smiling
• laughing
• joyous
• mirthful
• merry
• lighthearted
• blithe
• optimistic
• jolly
• buoyant
• exulting
• rejoicing
• blissful
• hopeful
• encouraging
• glorying
• cheering
• rapturous
• ecstatic
• giddy
• jocund
• rhapsodic
• euphoric
• blithesome
• heady
• exhilarated
• elated

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

• sorry
• ashamed
• remorseful
• regretful
• apologetic
• contrite
• repentant
• penitent
• sheepish
• compunctious
• weeping
• plaintive
• mournful
• sorrowful
• shamefaced
• lugubrious
• dolorous
• wailing
• woeful
• grieving

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• unapologetic
• remorseless
• unrepentant
• pitiless
• cruel
• ruthless
• impenitent
• merciless
• unmerciful
• shameless
• unashamed
• compassionless

3

as in pitiful

deserving of one's pity

the rueful, desperate poverty of people in parts of the Third World

Synonyms & Similar Words

• pitiful
• pathetic
• poor
• miserable
• wretched
• sorry
• piteous
• pitiable
• sad
• disturbing
• mournful
• heartbreaking
• horrible
• terrible
• impressive
• lamentable
• poignant
• regrettable
• emotional
• heartrending
• inspiring
• deplorable
• awful
• sorrowful
• moving
• touching
• stirring
• distressing
• grievous
• affecting
• upsetting
• woeful

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• unimpressive
• uninspiring

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of rueful

The conversation is raucous, self-aware and unexpectedly rueful. — Maer Roshan, HollywoodReporter, 4 Aug. 2026

Kincaid documented the wry, rueful conditions of colonialism and made a request of one of Britain’s most famous fictional characters. — Literary Hub, 27 July 2026

To root for #TeamBlack is to know that nothing good can come from impulse, and rueful laughter rippled across the lawn as Jace, eager to fight in his mother’s stead, locks Rhaenyra in her chambers to prevent her from risking her life in battle. — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 22 June 2026

Marcus Semien — a 35-year-old second baseman less than a month into his first season in Queens — said, cracking a rueful smile. — Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 22 Apr. 2026