Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to rue the day

to rue the day

9 8.1
Feel very sorry about a past action or decision
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : lamentar el día
  • He will rue the day he neglected his studies, as it will cost him his degree.
  • rue the day I ever
  • going to rue the day
  • rue the day they were born

I said that Tony Blair would rue the day that he expelled me.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • If the current President or his Attorney General want to press the matter, they will surely rue the day.

    Blog text (15)

  • We, as a country, will rue the day that we allowed this piece of crap to take the helm of our once respected nation.

    Blog text (5)

  • But in general, you must speak out or rue the day you failed to.

  • If you so much as touch a hair on his head, you will rue the day you were born !

    Species II (1998)

  • When you got right down to it, they would rue the day they were born.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • And he will rue the day he walked away from me.

    Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

  • I said the Red Sox would rue the day they signed him, but I thought it would be three or four years into the deal.

    Blog text (19)

  • The wildlife people who introduced these things might someday rue the day.

    Blog text (12)

  • You may be right, but I'm afraid we'll rue the day Rosebud came to our house.

    Rambling Rose (1991)

  • They would rue the day they tangled with Nick Halloway.

    Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)

Synonyms

to regret
vsto rue the day
481 1.2

Feel sorry about a past action, a loss, or a missed chance

is a bitter stronger form of that feeling about a specific past action
to feel bad about
vsto rue the day
108 3.4

To be sorry about an action you did or failed to do

is harsher and more bitter than simple guilt or sadness about actions
to bemoan
vsto rue the day
21 7.1

To say you are sad about something and complain about it

is a bitter personal feeling rather than an expressed complaint

Antonyms

to celebrate
∞ 1.4

To join fun events to mark a special day or achievement

to rejoice
93 3.6

Feel or show that you are very happy

How Regretful

to rue the day
  • Informal
9 8.1
to lament
  • Formal
62 5.0
to regret
481 1.2

Surface Forms

rue the day infinitive
ruing the day present participle
rues the day third person singular
rued the day past
rued the day past participle

Morphology

rue + the + day

The phrase is directly built from 'rue' (to regret) plus the noun phrase 'the day', so its meaning — to bitterly regret a particular day/event — is compositionally predictable. Though somewhat idiomatic or slightly archaic in tone, it follows a normal verb + noun pattern and would be understandable to a learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

The idiom rue the day comes from an old idea: 'rue' is a bitter herb people once used as a symbol of regret. So to rue the day is to say you will look back on that day with strong regret, or 'to regret' it deeply.