different between sorrow vs ruefully

English

Etymology

From Middle English sorow, sorwe, from Old English sorg, from Proto-West Germanic *sorgu, from Proto-Germanic *surg? (compare West Frisian soarch, Dutch zorg, German Sorge, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian sorg), from Proto-Indo-European *swerg?- (“watch over, worry; be ill, suffer”) (compare Old Irish serg (“sickness”), Tocharian B sark (“sickness”), Lithuanian sirgti (“be sick”), Sanskrit ????????? (s??rk?ati, “worry”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: s?r'?, IPA^(key): /?s????/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s??o?/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /?s??o?/
• Rhymes: -????

Noun

sorrow (countable and uncountable, plural sorrows)

1. (uncountable) unhappiness, woe
   • August 28, 1750, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler No. 47

     The safe and general antidote against sorrow is employment.

2. (countable) (usually in plural) An instance or cause of unhappiness.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

sorrow (third-person singular simple present sorrows, present participle sorrowing, simple past and past participle sorrowed)

1. (intransitive) To feel or express grief.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 424:

     ‘Sorrow not, sir,’ says he, ‘like those without hope.’

2. (transitive) To feel grief over; to mourn, regret.

Derived terms

• besorrow

Translations

References

• “sorrow” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "sorrow" in WordNet 3.0, Princeton University, 2006.

English

Etymology

rueful +? -ly

Adverb

ruefully (comparative more ruefully, superlative most ruefully)

1. In a rueful manner; causing, feeling, or expressing regret or sorrow.

   He smiled ruefully at me.

   He pushed his straw hat back, scratched his head, and laughed ruefully.

Synonyms

• sadly, sorrowfully, mournfully, regretfully