This list includes 20 Emotions that start with R, from “Rage” to “Ruefulness”. Many entries are common core feelings, while others name subtler mood shades useful for writing, teaching, or therapy.
Emotions that start with R are feeling words whose names begin with the letter R. They range from basic, cross-cultural states like “rage” to refined, expressive moods such as “ruefulness”.
Below you’ll find the table with Emotion, Type, Definition, and Example.
Emotion: This column lists each feeling word so you can scan the names and pick one quickly.
Type: You see whether a term is Positive, Negative, or Neutral to guide tone and usage.
Definition: A brief, plain-language meaning helps you understand the exact feeling and choose appropriate synonyms.
Example: A short sentence shows how the emotion appears in context and helps you apply it in writing.
Emotions that start with R
| Emotion | Type | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rage | Negative | Intense, furious anger | She flew into a sudden, uncontrollable rage. |
| Regret | Negative | Sadness or disappointment about a past choice | He felt regret after missing the opportunity. |
| Remorse | Negative | Deep sorrow and guilt for wrongdoing | She expressed deep remorse for hurting him. |
| Resentment | Negative | Persistent bitterness toward perceived unfairness | Years of mistreatment built her quiet resentment. |
| Rancor | Negative | Bitter, long-standing ill will or hostility | Old grievances left them with lasting rancor. |
| Revulsion | Negative | Strong disgust or repulsion | He recoiled in revulsion at the sight. |
| Repugnance | Negative | Intense disgust or moral aversion | She felt repugnance toward the corrupt practice. |
| Repulsion | Negative | Feeling of strong dislike or disgust | The rotten smell filled her with repulsion. |
| Relief | Positive | Pleasure after removal of stress or threat | When the exam ended, she sighed in relief. |
| Rapture | Positive | Intense, ecstatic joy or delight | He listened in rapture to the music. |
| Reverence | Positive | Deep respect mixed with awe | They stood in reverence before the monument. |
| Respect | Positive | Esteem or admiration for someone | She felt deep respect for her teacher. |
| Rejoicing | Positive | Active celebration or great joy | The team was rejoicing after their victory. |
| Relish | Positive | Pleasurable appreciation or enjoyment | He ate the meal with obvious relish. |
| Restlessness | Negative | Uneasy agitation or inability to relax | A feeling of restlessness kept her pacing. |
| Relaxation | Positive | Calm, low-arousal state of ease | After yoga, she sank into relaxation. |
| Reverie | Neutral | Pleasant daydreaming or absorbed thought | Lost in reverie, he missed the announcement. |
| Repentance | Negative | Sorrow for sin or moral failure with resolve to change | He showed repentance and sought forgiveness. |
| Ruefulness | Negative | Mild, often wry regret or sorrow | He smiled with ruefulness at his mistake. |
| Resignation | Negative | Acceptance of an undesirable situation with subdued sadness | She accepted the news with quiet resignation. |
Descriptions
Rage
A high-intensity anger state often triggered by injustice or threat. Common in many cultures and well-attested in dictionaries and emotion research.
Regret
A common, reflective negative emotion focused on past actions; intensity ranges from mild to deep and appears in lexical and psychological sources.
Remorse
A moral emotion involving guilt and desire to make amends; typically stronger than regret and widely discussed in ethics and psychology.
Resentment
A longer-lasting negative feeling tied to perceived injustice; lower to moderate intensity and commonly listed in emotion vocabularies.
Rancor
A term for deep, often chronic bitterness; similar to resentment, noted in dictionaries as an affective state.
Revulsion
A high-intensity disgust-related emotion, triggered by offensive stimuli, well-recognized in lexical sources.
Repugnance
Synonymous with revulsion; a strong negative aversive emotion often used for moral or physical disgust.
Repulsion
A disgust-family emotion; commonly used in everyday language and psychological descriptions of aversive reactions.
Relief
A low-to-moderate positive affect following danger or worry relief; widely attested in everyday and clinical vocabularies.
Rapture
A high-intensity positive emotion implying ecstasy or bliss; appears in literary and psychological descriptions.
Reverence
A respectful, often calm positive emotion associated with admiration or awe; recorded in dictionaries and affective taxonomies.
Respect
A common social emotion or attitude indicating admiration; widely recognized across sources as an affective state.
Rejoicing
A joyful, outward emotional response to positive events; commonly referenced in everyday language and emotion lists.
Relish
A positive affect denoting enjoyment or savoring; less intense than rapture and present in lexical sources.
Restlessness
A low-to-moderate negative arousal state linked to boredom or anxiety; commonly noted in psychological and everyday descriptions.
Relaxation
A positive, low-intensity state of calm and reduced stress; widely recognized as an affective state though sometimes described physiologically.
Reverie
A neutral-to-positive low-arousal state of imaginative absorption; common in literature and recognized as a mental-affective state.
Repentance
A moral emotion involving remorse and desire for reform; common in religious and ethical contexts and attested in dictionaries.
Ruefulness
A gentler form of regret, sometimes with self-aware or ironic tone; attested in lexical sources.
Resignation
An affective state of passive acceptance, often low in intensity; commonly referenced in psychological and everyday vocabularies.