Regret - Definitions from Dictionary.com

8 results for: Regret

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

re·gret

Audio Help [ri-gret] Pronunciation Key verb, -gret·ted, -gret·ting, noun

–verb (used with object)

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

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

–noun

3.	a sense of loss, disappointment, dissatisfaction, etc.

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

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

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

[Origin: 1300–50; ME regretten (v.) < MF regreter, OF, equiv. to re- re- + -greter, perh. < Gmc (cf. greet²)

]

—Related forms

re·gret·ter, noun

re·gret·ting·ly, adverb

—Synonyms 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 1. rejoice. 4. joy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Regret

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

re·gret Audio Help   (rĭ-grět') Pronunciation Key
v.   re·gret·ted, re·gret·ting, re·grets

v.   tr.

To feel sorry, disappointed, or distressed about.
To remember with a feeling of loss or sorrow; mourn.

v. intr.
To feel regret.

n.

A sense of loss and longing for someone or something gone.
A feeling of disappointment or distress about something that one wishes could be different.
regrets A courteous expression of regret, especially at having to decline an invitation.

[Middle English regretten, to lament, from Old French regreter : re-, re- + -greter, to weep (perhaps of Germanic origin).]

re·gret'ter n.

Synonyms: These nouns denote mental distress. Regret has the broadest range, from mere disappointment to a painful sense of dissatisfaction or self-reproach, as over something lost or done: She looked back with regret on the pain she had caused her family.
Sorrow connotes sadness caused by misfortune, affliction, or loss; it can also imply contrition: "sorrow for his ... children, who needed his protection, and whom he could not protect" (James Baldwin).
Grief is deep, acute personal sorrow, as that arising from irreplaceable loss: "Grief fills the room up of my absent child,/Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me" (Shakespeare).
Anguish implies agonizing, excruciating mental pain: "I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement" (Abraham Lincoln).
Woe is intense, often prolonged wretchedness or misery: "the deep, unutterable woe/Which none save exiles feel" (W.E. Aytoun).
Heartache most often applies to sustained private sorrow: The child's difficulties are a source of heartache to the parents.
Heartbreak is overwhelming grief: "Better a little chiding than a great deal of heartbreak" (Shakespeare).

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
regret (v.)

"to remember with distress or longing," c.1300, from O.Fr. regreter "long after, bewail, lament someone's death," from re-, intensive prefix + -greter, possibly from Frankish (cf. O.E. grætan "to weep;" O.N. grata "to weep, groan"), from P.Gmc. *gretan "weep." Replaced O.E. ofþyncan, from of- "off, away," here denoting opposition + þyncan "seem, seem fit" (as in methinks). The noun is first recorded 1533. Regretfully incorrectly in place of regrettably is attested from 1976.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

regret
noun
1.	sadness associated with some wrong done or some disappointment; "he drank to drown his sorrows"; "he wrote a note expressing his regret"; "to his rue, the error cost him the game" [syn: sorrow]
verb
1.	feel remorse for; feel sorry for; be contrite about [syn: repent]
2.	feel sad about the loss or absence of
3.	decline formally or politely; "I regret I can't come to the party"
4.	express with regret; "I regret to say that you did not gain admission to Harvard"

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
regret [rəˈgret] verb — past tense, past participle reˈgretted

to be sorry about
Example: I regret my foolish behaviour; I regret that I missed the concert; I regret missing the concert; I regret to inform you that your application for the job was unsuccessful.

Arabic:	يَنْدَم، يأسَف
Chinese (Simplified):	懊悔
Chinese (Traditional):	懊悔
Czech:	litovat
Danish:	fortryde; beklage
Dutch:	betreuren
Estonian:	kahetsema
Finnish:	katua, olla pahoillaan
French:	regretter
German:	bedauern
Greek:	λυπάμαι
Hungarian:	sajnál (vmit)
Icelandic:	sjá eftir

Italian:	dispiacere, rincrescere
Japanese:	残念に思う
Korean:	유감으로 생각하다, 후회하다
Latvian:	par nožēlu jāsaka
Lithuanian:	apgailestauti, gailėtis
Polish:	żałować
Portuguese (Brazil):	lamentar
Portuguese (Portugal):	lamentar
Romanian:	a regreta, a-i părea rău
Russian:	сожалеть
Spanish:	lamentar
Swedish:	vara ledsen över, beklaga, ångra
Turkish:	pişman olmak, üzülmek

regret [rəˈgret] noun

a feeling of sorrow, or of having done something wrong
Example: I have no regrets / I feel no regret about what I did; It was with deep regret that I heard the news of his death.

Arabic:	أَسَف، نَدَم
Chinese (Simplified):	遗憾，懊悔，悲伤
Chinese (Traditional):	遺憾，懊悔，悲傷
Czech:	lítost
Danish:	fortrydelse; beklagelse
Dutch:	leedwezen
Estonian:	kahetsus
Finnish:	katumus, mielipaha
French:	regret
German:	das Bedauern
Greek:	θλίψη, μεταμέλεια
Hungarian:	sajnálat
Icelandic:	eftirsjá; harmur; söknuður
Indonesian:	penyesalan
Italian:	rammarico, rimpianto

Japanese:	後悔
Korean:	유감, 후회
Latvian:	nožēla
Lithuanian:	apgailestavimas, gailestis, liūdesys
Norwegian:	beklagelse, anger; sorg
Polish:	żal
Portuguese (Brazil):	pesar, arrependimento
Portuguese (Portugal):	pesar
Romanian:	regret
Russian:	сожаление
Slovak:	ľútosť
Slovenian:	obžalovanje
Spanish:	pesar; remordimiento
Swedish:	ånger, ledsnad, sorg
Turkish:	pişmanlık, üzüntü

See also: regretful, regretfully, regrettable

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Regret

Com*punc"tion\, n. [OF. compunction, F. componction, L. compunctio, fr. compungere, compunctum, to prick; com- + pungere to prick, sting. See Pungent.]

1. A pricking; stimulation. [Obs.]

That acid and piercing spirit which, with such activity and compunction, invadeth the brains and nostrils. --Sir T. Browne.

2. A picking of heart; poignant grief proceeding from a sense of guilt or consciousness of causing pain; the sting of conscience.

He acknowledged his disloyalty to the king, with expressions of great compunction. --Clarendon.

Syn: Compunction, Remorse, Contrition.

Usage: Remorse is anguish of soul under a sense of guilt or consciousness of having offended God or brought evil upon one's self or others. Compunction is the pain occasioned by a wounded and awakened conscience. Neither of them implies true contrition, which denotes self-condemnation, humiliation, and repentance. We speak of the gnawings of remorse; of compunction for a specific act of transgression; of deep contrition in view of our past lives. See Regret.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Regret

Re*gret"\ (r?*gr?t"), n. [F., fr. regretter. See Regret, v.]

1. Pain of mind on account of something done or experienced in the past, with a wish that it had been different; a looking back with dissatisfaction or with longing; grief; sorrow; especially, a mourning on account of the loss of some joy, advantage, or satisfaction. "A passionate regret at sin." --Dr. H. More.

What man does not remember with regret the first time he read Robinson Crusoe? --Macaulay.

Never any prince expressed a more lively regret for the loss of a servant. --Clarendon.

From its peaceful bosom [the grave] spring none but fond regrets and tender recollections. --W. Irving.

2. Dislike; aversion. [Obs.] --Dr. H. More.

Syn: Grief; concern; sorrow; lamentation; repentance; penitence; self-condemnation.

Usage: Regret, Remorse, Compunction, Contrition, Repentance. Regret does not carry with it the energy of remorse, the sting of compunction, the sacredness of contrition, or the practical character of repentance. We even apply the term regret to circumstance over which we have had no control, as the absence of friends or their loss. When connected with ourselves, it relates rather to unwise acts than to wrong or sinful ones. --C. J. Smith.

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