rueful

/ˈrufəl/

If your elaborate magic trick goes awry, and instead of pulling a rabbit out of an audience member's shoe, you set the shoe on fire, you might give a rueful smile. Rueful means "apologetic" or "remorseful."

The adjective rueful sincerely expresses regret, but it manages to do it with a hint of humor. Rueful shows up a lot in descriptions of remorseful grins or apologetic smiles. If you're sorry about something you've done but you can still laugh at yourself a little bit, you feel rueful. The word itself comes from the verb to rue, which means "to regret."

Definitions of rueful

1. adjective

   feeling or expressing pain or sorrow
   synonyms: contrite, remorseful, ruthful

   penitent, repentant

   feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds