as in deserved
being what is called for by accepted standards of right and wrong
in light of her admission of having lied, the only rightful course of action for the governor would be to resign
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Recent Examples of rightful
In recent years there has been some effort by some Western academic institutions to right the wrongs of the past and return ancient ancestral remains and artifacts to their rightful tribal nations.
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Frank Vaisvilas, jsonline.com, 27 Oct. 2025
The venture world spoke religiously of betting on the founder, the visionary, the Moses who would lead the team to its rightful destiny.
—Neil Senturia, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Oct. 2025
Mindhouse has been working with Santilli, and he is being treated as the rightful owner of the Alien Autopsy IP through his company Orbital Media Ltd.
—Jake Kanter, Deadline, 24 Oct. 2025
The future of industries based on creative expression and artistry relies on controls, protections, and rightful compensation.
—NPR, 20 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rightful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rightful
Adjective
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Jessie Buckley’s and Timothée Chalamet’s wins in the lead acting categories gave 25 points to Hamnet and Marty Supreme, respectively, while Amy Madigan’s surprising (but well deserved) win in Best Supporting Actress gave another 25 points to Weapons.—
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After some dynamic passing from Robertson and Bobby McMann, capped by a splendid finish from Roy, the Leafs’ new third line pushed the team to a deserved early lead.—
Adjective
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The justified fear was that without a conference affiliation with the two biggest schools in the Big 12 would be catastrophic to Texas Tech University, its football team, the entire athletic department, and to Lubbock itself.—
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Majumdar lavishes her characters with careful attention, and so the reader comes to regard their most troubling actions as justified, if not inevitable.—
Cite this Entry
“Rightful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rightful. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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