different between ruthful vs ruthfully

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /??u??.f?l/

Adjective

ruthful (comparative more ruthful, superlative most ruthful)

1. Full of sorrow; sorrowful; woeful; rueful.
2. Causing pity; piteous.
   • c. 1588-1593, William Shakespeare, The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus, 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:
3. Full of ruth or pity; merciful; compassionate.
   • 1898, Richard Francis Burton (translator), The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, 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): compassionate, merciful

Antonyms

• (full of ruth): ruthless

Derived terms

• ruthfully
• ruthfulness

Related terms

• ruth

Translations

Anagrams

• hurtful

English

Etymology

From Middle English rewthfully, equivalent to ruthful +? -ly.

Adverb

ruthfully (comparative more ruthfully, superlative most ruthfully)

1. (manner) In a manner that is ruthful:
   1. Sorrowfully, ruefully.
      • 1997, K. Ayyappapanicker, Sahitya Akademi staff, Medieval Indian Literature: An Anthology, page 232,

        They tantalize, particularly when the speaker or the central character of the lyric is a prematurely married girl, ruthfully yearning to return to her parental home, and there, reunite with her childhood lover.

      • 2001, Michael Innes, Death at the President's Lodging, page 188,

        No change, he reflected ruthfully a moment later, was to be got from Empson that way.

   2. In a manner that causes pity; piteously.
      • 1997, Neil W. Hamilton (quoting Owen Lattimore), Zealotry and Academic Freedom, page 313,

        This commonplace observation becomes very poignant when you are the man accused, and a man like McCarthy ruthfully exploits his advantage by making the accusations so sensational that the revelation of the truth seems drab and dull by comparison.

   3. Compassionately; mercifully.
      • 1999, Joseph L. Harsh, Taken at the Flood: Robert E. Lee and Confederate Strategy in the Maryland Campaign of 1862, page 285,

        Lee's wait was ruthfully short, although he might have traded the first news that reached him for a return to uncertainty.

Anagrams

• hurtfully

Middle English

Adverb

ruthfully

1. Alternative form of rewthfully