ruefuladj.
/ˈruːf(ᵿ)l/, U.S. /ˈruf(ə)l/ 1. Expressive or suggestive of penitence, remorse, sorrow, or regret. Now also: expressing sorrow or regret in a humorous way; wryly apologetic.
a. Of cries or speech.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > quality of affecting the emotions > [adjective]
ruefulc1225
pathetical1563
touchinga1586
imprintingc1592
moving1594
pathetic1598
neara1616
affectivea1639
affectuous1664
tenderingc1694
affecting1703
tender1705
emotive1847
the mind > emotion > compassion > quality of exciting pity > [adjective]
armlyeOE
unseelyOE
rulyOE
ruefulc1225
ruthfulc1225
sorryc1225
piteousc1300
poorc1300
ruthlyc1300
pietousa1393
pitifulc1450
lamentablec1460
miserable?a1475
pitiablec1475
execrable1490
plainful1555
tristsum1567
passionatea1586
touchinga1586
pathetic1591
melting1593
remorseful?1615
compassionate1630
compassionable1635
ruesome1833
po'1866
little-boy-lost1957
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > lamentation or expression of grief > [adjective]
carefulOE
charyOE
mourningOE
sorrowingOE
sorryOE
balec1220
heavy?c1225
ruefulc1225
ruthfulc1225
sorrowful?c1225
dolefulc1275
plaintivea1393
complainingc1430
lamentable?a1475
plaining?c1475
dolent1490
lamentatious1532
troublous1535
plaintfula1542
dirge-like1561
yearnfula1566
waymenting1573
mestive1575
lamentatory1576
mestful1577
wailful1579
lamentinga1586
weepy1602
deplorative1610
deploringa1616
gement1656
condolent1691
dirgeful1793
dirgy1830
lamentful1876
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > lamentation or expression of grief > [adjective] > lamentable
ruefulc1225
pietousa1393
weepablec1449
pitifulc1450
lamentablec1460
pitiablec1475
implorable1535
moanworthy1540
wailfula1547
wailsome1566
tristsum1567
moanful1573
souspirable1594
bemoanable1611
bewailable1611
deplorable1612
criminal1792
c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (Royal) (1981) l. 74 Þeotinde unþuldeliche wið rewfule remes [L. queruloso gemitu].
c1330 Sir Orfeo (Auch.) (1966) l. 114 (MED) Lete ben al þis reweful cri & tel me..what þing may þe help.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 317 In þat place beeþ..i-herd reweful [c1410 BL Add. rufol; ?a1475 anon. tr. lamentable; L. gemebundae] voys and gronynge.
a1450 (?1409) St. Patrick's Purgatory (Royal) 74 ‘Alas..mekill people in the world synneth in trust of goddis mercy’..these ruful wordes rehersid a bowte a xii times.
c1450 (a1400) Libeaus Desconus (Calig. A.ii) (1969) l. 972 (MED) Syr Gyffroun..Was y-bore hom fram þe feld Wyth care and rufull roun.
1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) iii. iii. f. lij Myn Aungell speke to these spirites, that maden this reuful crye.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 8518 Andromoca..With a rufull rore rent of hir clothis.
1572 J. Bossewell Wks. Armorie ii. f. 56v [The cat] maketh a rufull noyse, and a gastefull, when one profereth to fighte with another.
a1626 N. Breton in Daffodils & Primroses 21/1 in Wks. (1879) I But yow that rede this ruifull verse, consider of his care.
1631 R. Bolton Instr. Right Comf. Affl. Consciences 304 The rufull cries of their little Babes.
1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 1553 The accident was loud, & heard before thee With rueful cry. View more context for this quotation
1702 C. Beaumont J. Beaumont's Psyche (new ed.) viii. ccli. 120 In vain the skies And stones they rent with ruful Exclamations.
1748 J. Thomson Castle of Indolence ii. xliv Alarm'd, the inferior demons of the place Rais'd rueful shrieks and hideous yells around.
1800 W. Wordsworth in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads II. 74 When he had learnt, what thing it was, That sent this rueful cry; I ween, The Boy recover'd heart.
1847 S. Kettell Yankee Notions (ed. 4) 52 Here the old miser rolled up his eyes and gave a most rueful groan as he thought of the alarming audacity of cats and the irrecoverable loss of his tom-cod.
1889 Pop. Sci. Monthly Oct. 758 The counterattack of the professor is in reality..a supreme proof of the immense influence now gained by evolutionary doctrine—a sort of rueful cry, ‘Thou hast conquered, O Evolution!’
1904 B. von Hutten Pam iii. ii. 17 ‘Oh!’ she added, breaking into rueful laughter at the sight of his fat forlornity.
1949 W. G. B. Carson Managers in Distress v. 135 ‘Mr. and Mrs. Field were welcomed back to St. Louis with a hearty round of applause.’ This does not tally exactly with Smith's rueful exclamation.
1994 Sat. Night (Toronto) Nov. 72/1 Women who had once thrived on boisterous late-night discussions about their lovers' peccadillos now spoke in the same rueful tones about their mortgages and the trials of toilet training.
2006 C. Coble Dangerous Depths xxiii. 216 He suppressed a rueful sigh. It was too late.
b. Of looks, features, states, or actions.
ΚΠ
a1300 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 124 (MED) Mi bon þu her, leuedi der, þat hic aske wit reuful cher.
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 578 (MED) Ouer londes he gan fare Wiþ sorwe and reweful chere.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iii. 5113 (MED) To þe kyng she ran..So diffacid and ruful of hir siȝt Þat by hir hewe knoweþ hir no wiȝt.
c1460 (?c1400) Tale of Beryn 39 (MED) She snyffith, sighith, and shooke hire hede and made rouful chere.
a1547 Earl of Surrey tr. Virgil Certain Bks. Aenæis (1557) ii. sig. Bii Before mine eies, me thought, With rufull chere I sawe where Hector stood.
1590 T. Lodge Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie f. 35 Looke on mine eyes made red with rufull teares.
1636 E. Dacres tr. N. Machiavel Disc. Livy II. 492 They usd to accompany them in a rufull manner, clad in blacke, and all sorrowfull.
1684 T. Otway Atheist ii. 13 That Face..o're-grown with ruful Beard.
1728 A. Pope Dunciad ii. 122 Piteous of his case, Yet smiling at his ruful length of face.
1781 F. Burney Jrnl. 3–4 July in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (2003) IV. 396 He suddenly called out, & with a most rueful face ‘Oh certainly I beg your pardon!’
1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. v. 92 As you had augured from the rueful bow of the speaker.
1835 W. Irving Tour on Prairies 136 I looked after him with a rueful eye as he limped off.
1877 W. Black Green Pastures & Piccadilly III. viii. 127 With a rueful smile.
1905 M. Robertson Land Ho! 4 Scotty's face assumed a rueful expression.
1935 C. Odets Till Day I Die in Six Plays (1939) 107 (stage direct.) A small man with a rueful face..is silently operating a hectograph machine.
1945 D. Bolster Roll on my Twelve 14 In the stokehold and machinery spaces they pursed their lips in rueful grimness and swore under their breath, or called Scottish obscenities at each other.
1984 T. C. Boyle Budding Prospects (1985) i. i. 4 I gave the tube a rueful glance—zombies in white-face drifted across the screen, masticating bratwurstlike strings of human intestine.
2009 J. Olds & R. S. Schwartz Lonely Amer. vii.124 It is embarrassing to admit it, but most people we talk to respond with rueful smiles of recognition.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > compassion > [adjective] > pitying or compassionate
ruefulc1225
ruthfulc1225
piteousc1300
pietousa1393
rueinga1400
piec1429
compassionable1548
compassioned?1578
miserable1584
compassionate1587
pitying1589
eleemosynous?1590
humane1603
compassionful1604
remorsive1606
remorseful1610
compassive1612
yearnful1633
c1225 (?c1200) St. Margaret (Bodl.) (1934) 16 (MED) Arude, reowfule godd, mi sawle of sweordes egge.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 165 Se luueful & se rewful [c1230 Corpus Cambr. reowðful] is hire heorte, Ichulle, he þencheð, maken hire to..reuful [a1250 Titus rewful] mid alle.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 6780 (MED) Reufol he was to nedi men, of is almes large & fre.
c1350 Psalter (BL Add. 17376) in K. D. Bülbring Earliest Compl. Eng. Prose Psalter (1891) cxliv. 8 (MED) Our Lord..is rewful and merciable.
a1400 Psalter (Vesp.) cxi. 4 in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 247 [God is] Mildeherte and rewfulle and rightwis.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xiv. 148 (MED) Criste..shal..rewarde alle dowble ricchesse þat reuful hertes habbeth.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 439 Ruful [Winch. Rufful], or ful of ruthe and pyte, pieticus, compassivus.
a1450 Castle of Love (Bodl. Add.) (1967) 612 Rewfull [c1390 Vernon Al þus schal ben his nome: Wondurful God and of miht, And redeful and fader ariht].
3. Exciting sorrow or compassion; pitiable, lamentable; doleful, dismal.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > [adjective] > causing sorrow or grief
sorelyc888
sorrowfulOE
sorryOE
yomerlyOE
rueful?c1225
grievous1297
heavyc1374
sada1375
deefulc1380
grievable1390
grieffula1400
grievingc1450
trist?c1450
tristfula1492
dolorousa1500
doly?1553
mournful?1570
griefsome1635
tristifical1656
melancholy1710
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 241 Þe oðer þing is þe Muchele & þe reufule [a1250 Titus reowfule; a1300 Caius dreadfule] lure þet he leoseð, þet na þing þet he deð nis godlicwurðe.
a1250 Ureisun ure Louerde (Lamb.) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 187 Bitweone þine rewfulle earmes on þe rode.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 6709 (MED) Erl godwine..let smite of hor alre heued & made a reufol dom.
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 6232 Þe kniȝtes..com to þis reweful bataile.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 86 Bi this now seid cause bifille the rewful and wepeable destruccioun of the worthi citee..of Prage.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) II. 579 Hit [sc. complaint of love] is an hondred parte more rufullyer than myne herte can uttir.
1559 W. Baldwin et al. Myrroure for Magistrates Cade xxi All men reioicing at the rufull sight.
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis ii. 32 Euery house, eech temple with ruful slaughter aboundeth.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 546 Grinding the face of their poore tenants in ruefull manner.
1675 V. Alsop Anti-Sozzo iii. §2. 203 It's a very Ruful cause that needs such Subsidies to maintain it.
1709 J. Reynolds Death's Vision ix. 42 The Rufull Ills and World from whence I Came!
1743 R. Blair Grave 4 How dark Thy long-extended Realms, and rueful Wastes!
1797 F. Burney Jrnls. & Lett. (1973) III. 253 Our adventures in coming back..were rather rueful.
1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms ii. 90 Not even one rueful plank is seen, To tell that a vessel hath ever been.
1854 E. Brown Let. 29 Nov. in W. J. Moses Liberian Dreams (1998) xviii. 120 There is the most rueful state of things existing here, that ever mankind heard of.
1885 Manch. Weekly Times 20 June 5/5 The Conservative Opposition..was in a rueful plight, crushed by a great defeat.
1984 C.-J. Lee China & Japan iii. 76 Limited technology and capital shortages left offshore oil exploration in a rueful state of underdevelopment.
2000 B. A. Parikh in M. Gupta Women Writers in 20th Cent. Lit. xi. 132 The racial discrimination was rather a rule than exception, as she [sc. Dionne Brand] delineates the rueful condition of the Caribbean women when they entered the market place in Canada.
4. Feeling penitence, remorse, sorrow, or regret. Now also: feeling wryly apologetic. Also figurative and in figurative contexts.
ΚΠ
a1275 Body & Soul (Trin. Cambr. B.14.39) l. 53 in A. S. M. Clark Seint Maregrete & Body & Soul (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Michigan) (1972) 126 Þou wreche bodi, þou reuful bodi, vine [read wi ne] auedestu þe bi þout þat tu and þine uerkes, hal solde uende to nout.
c1405 (c1385) G. Chaucer Knight's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 2022 Tho cam..passyng othere of wepyng Emelye The rufulleste of al the compaignye.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 439 Rufulle, and fulle of peyne and desese; a caytyf, dolorosus, penosus, calamitosus.
1526 W. Bonde Rosary sig. Diiiv Now maye I take & drawe out of thy most rewfull brest the paynfull drinke of sorowe.
1597 J. Fenn tr. G. Loarte Instr. & Advt. f. 69v Contemplate..the extreme dolors which the most ruful mother felt..standing by the Crosse.
1650 J. Milton Εικονοκλαστης (ed. 2) i. 14 Those ruefull Preists whom Eliah mock'd.
1692 E. Walker tr. Epictetus Enchiridion lv Joy in a nimble moment ends its Race And rueful, pale Repentance takes its Place.
1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World xv. 415 The Sky looked very black and rueful.
1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the Second 13 And all Mankind,..Ruefull, aghast! cry out at his Career.
1759 O. Goldsmith Bee 24 Nov. 232 This rueful figure frightens a child into the palpitation of the heart.
1815 W. Wordsworth White Doe of Rylstone ii. 26 Full soon to be uplifted high, And float in rueful company!
1855 J. L. Motley Rise Dutch Republic III. v. v. 332 ‘Take them away; take them home again,’ said the rueful burgomaster.
1863 C. Kingsley Water-babies v. 207 Very rueful they looked.
1910 J. R. Hayes Brandywine Days 186 And I have seen..The rueful Pan among the river reeds.
1934 J. B. Priestley Eng. Journey iv He was rueful because this method of production means that men of his kind..find fewer and fewer avenues of promotion open to them.
1948 S. Bellow Spanish Let. in Partisan Rev. Feb. 219 On the platform the colonels' son was at my back, and in the sooty arcades and the hell's-antechamber turmoil of the station he hung on, rueful and anxious at my speed.
1989 G. Daly Pre-Raphaelites in Love i. 4 With his..elegant, clean features, he made Hunt rueful with his beauty.
2009 R. Greene Death of Innoc. iv. 72 James swallowed his food and smiled looking rueful.
Compounds
rueful-looking adj.
ΚΠ
1757 W. Thompson Poems Several Occasions 64 Ne rueful-looking Drad, ne pale-ey'd Care.
1844 A. W. Kinglake Eothen iii. 45 Some rueful-looking fellows came rapidly shambling down the steps.
1922 H. G. Hutchinson Fortn. Club i. 2 Surely the most rueful-looking Yorick that ever set the table in a roar!
2008 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 20 June 31 Killer of Sheep..is set in the working-class neighbourhood of Watts, where a rueful-looking man called Stan..works at an abattoir by day..and spends his free time laying the kitchen floor of the home he shares with his wife..and two kids.
Derivatives
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > compassion > [noun]
rutha1200
ruenessa1225
ruefulnessc1225
birewnessa1250
pityc1300
ruea1325
compassionc1340
midtholing1340
miserationa1382
rueinga1382
bowel1382
mildc1390
tendresse1390
ruefulhead?a1400
ruthnessa1400
tendernessa1400
compunction1430
bowels of compassion1526
remorse1538
commiseration1582
kindheartedness1583
commorse1595
earning1603
tender-heartedness1607
compassionateness1614
visceraa1651
ruthfulness1674
karuna1850
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 263 (MED) Þorgh pite mykelle he les, & reufulhed of herte.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.c1225