Ruthful

//ˈɹuːθ.fʊl// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Full of sorrow; sorrowful; woeful; rueful.
  2. 2
    Causing pity; piteous.

    "An if it please thee! why, assure thee, Lucius, / 'Twill vex thy soul to hear what I shall speak; / For I must talk of murders, rapes, and massacres, / Acts of black night, abominable deeds, / Complots of mischief, treason, villainies, / Ruthful to hear, yet piteously perform'd:"

  3. 3
    Full of ruth or pity; merciful; compassionate.

    "Then he bestowed robes of honour on the nurses wet and dry and said to them, "Be ye ruthful over them and rear them after the goodliest fashion.""

Adjective
  1. 1
    feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
compassionatemercifulafflictedbleedingcharitableclement

Example

More examples

"An if it please thee! why, assure thee, Lucius, / 'Twill vex thy soul to hear what I shall speak; / For I must talk of murders, rapes, and massacres, / Acts of black night, abominable deeds, / Complots of mischief, treason, villainies, / Ruthful to hear, yet piteously perform'd:"

Etymology

From Middle English reuþful, reuthful, reowthful, equivalent to ruth + -ful.

More for "ruthful"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.