rueful.

Showing regret, often with a touch of embarrassed humor.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• rueful smile
• rueful admission

On the page

She gave the ruined cake a rueful smile.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Comparative more rueful; superlative most rueful when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: character, description. Commonness: moderately common.