Ruthful - What does it mean?

ruthful

English

Adjective

(en adjective)

Full of sorrow; sorrowful; woeful; rueful.

Causing pity; piteous.

* c.1588-1593 , , Act 5, Scene 1,

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:

* 1808 , , Canto Fourth,

‘When last this ruthful month was come, / And in Linlithgow’s holy dome / The King, as wont, was praying;

Full of ruth or pity; merciful; compassionate.

* 1898 , , Volume 7,

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."

Usage notes

* (causing pity) Unlike the other senses, which describe the person acting or the motivation behind an act, this sense is used to describe the effect of an action or circumstance. Thus, it is easily confused with the complementary term ruthless: a ruthless'' person (one lacking pity) may perform acts or bring about circumstances which are ''ruthful (cause or induce feelings of pity).

Synonyms

* (full of ruth) (l), (l)

Antonyms

* (full of ruth) (l)

Derived terms

* (l) * (l)

Anagrams

Not English

has no English definition. It may be misspelled.