regret
[ri-gret]
- 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.
Show More
- 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.
Show More
Origin of regret
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com1. 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
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
heartacheannoyanceapologysorrowrepentancebitternessmisgivingcontritiongriefdiscomfortheartbreakremorsedisappointmentqualmuneasinessdissatisfactionanguishnostalgiaworryconcernExamples from the Web for regret
Contemporary Examples
Scalise has called the talk, which he delivered in a hotel outside New Orleans, “a mistake I regret.”
And his understandable expressions of regret—now that his book is tanking—come as too little, too late.
It is based on this regret, actually, with respect to the attitude we have had toward them.
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 FDRJohn Avlon
September 9, 2014
Pitre is right, combat is about screw-ups, bad officers, apathetic contractors, regret, unfairness, and impossible missions.
Historical Examples
Percival fancied there was a look almost of regret in the girl's eyes.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Then I regret to say that the boy, Robert Rushton, is unworthy of your friendship.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
I regret this, but did the best I could under the circumstances.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
If he carried her triumphantly off, doubtless his regret for that would eventually be as great.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
We regret that his tours are so rapid, and his journals so brief.
regret
- (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
Show More
- 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
Show More
Word Origin
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
v.
"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).
Show More
n.
"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.)).
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper