regret

[ri-gret]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR regret ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), re·gret·ted, re·gret·ting.

to feel sorrow or remorse for (an act, fault, disappointment, etc.): He no sooner spoke than he regretted it.

to think of with a sense of loss: to regret one's vanished youth.

noun

a sense of loss, disappointment, dissatisfaction, etc.

a feeling of sorrow or remorse for a fault, act, loss, disappointment, etc.

regrets, a polite, usually formal refusal of an invitation: I sent her my regrets.

a note expressing regret at one's inability to accept an invitation: I have had four acceptances and one regret.

Origin of regret

1300–50; Middle English regretten (v.) < Middle French regreter, Old French, equivalent to re- re- + -greter, perhaps < Germanic (cf. greet²)

Related formsre·gret·ter, nounre·gret·ting·ly, adverbun·re·gret·ted, adjectiveun·re·gret·ting, adjective

Can be confusedbegrudge regret resent (see synonym study at the current entry)

Synonyms for regret

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1. deplore, lament, bewail, bemoan, mourn, sorrow, grieve. Regret, penitence, remorse imply a sense of sorrow about events in the past, usually wrongs committed or errors made. Regret is distress of mind, sorrow for what has been done or failed to be done: to have no regrets. Penitence implies a sense of sin or misdoing, a feeling of contrition and determination not to sin again: a humble sense of penitence. Remorse implies pangs, qualms of conscience, a sense of guilt, regret, and repentance for sins committed, wrongs done, or duty not performed: a deep sense of remorse.

Antonyms for regret

1. rejoice. 4. joy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for regret

heartache, annoyance, apology, sorrow, repentance, bitterness, misgiving, contrition, grief, discomfort, heartbreak, remorse, disappointment, qualm, uneasiness, dissatisfaction, anguish, nostalgia, worry, concern

Examples from the Web for regret

Contemporary Examples of regret

Scalise has called the talk, which he delivered in a hotel outside New Orleans, “a mistake I regret.”
The Louisiana Racists Who Courted Steve Scalise
Jason Berry
January 3, 2015
And his understandable expressions of regret—now that his book is tanking—come as too little, too late.
The Bloodiest Media Coups of 2014
Lloyd Grove
December 22, 2014
It is based on this regret, actually, with respect to the attitude we have had toward them.
Joseph Campbell on the Roots of Halloween
Joseph Campbell
October 31, 2014
He would not relinquish presidential power and live to regret it, like his cousin.
From The Square Deal to The New Deal: The Overlapping Political Identities of TR and FDR
John Avlon
September 9, 2014
Pitre is right, combat is about screw-ups, bad officers, apathetic contractors, regret, unfairness, and impossible missions.
'Fives and Twenty-Fives' Is Fiction Honed in a Combat Zone
Brian Castner
August 25, 2014

Historical Examples of regret

Percival fancied there was a look almost of regret in the girl's eyes.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
Then I regret to say that the boy, Robert Rushton, is unworthy of your friendship.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
I regret this, but did the best I could under the circumstances.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
If he carried her triumphantly off, doubtless his regret for that would eventually be as great.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
We regret that his tours are so rapid, and his journals so brief.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various

British Dictionary definitions for regret

regret

verb -grets, -gretting or -gretted (tr)

(may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to feel sorry, repentant, or upset about

to bemoan or grieve the death or loss of

noun

a sense of repentance, guilt, or sorrow, as over some wrong done or an unfulfilled ambition

a sense of loss or grief

(plural) a polite expression of sadness, esp in a formal refusal of an invitation

Derived Formsregretful, adjectiveregretfully, adverbregretfulness, nounregrettable, adjectiveregrettably, adverbregretter, noun

Word Origin for regret

C14: from Old French regrete, of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse grāta to weep

usage

Regretful and regretfully are sometimes wrongly used where regrettable and regrettably are meant: he gave a regretful smile; he smiled regretfully; this is a regrettable (not regretful) mistake; regrettably (not regretfully) , I shall be unable to attend

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for regret

"to look back with distress or sorrowful longing; to grieve for on remembering," late 14c., from Old French regreter "long after, bewail, lament someone's death; ask the help of" (Modern French regretter), from re-, intensive prefix (see re-), + -greter, possibly from Frankish or some other Germanic source (cf. Old English grætan "to weep;" Old Norse grata "to weep, groan"), from Proto-Germanic *gretan "weep." "Not found in other Romance languages, and variously explained" [Century Dictionary].

Related: Regretted; regretting. Replaced Old English ofþyncan, from of- "off, away," here denoting opposition, + þyncan "seem, seem fit" (as in methinks).

"pain or distress in the mind at something done or left undone," 1530s, from the verb, or from Middle French regret, back-formation from regreter (see regret (v.)).