regret definition | Dictionary.com

re⋅gret

[ri-gret]

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. greet ² )

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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To regret

re·gret (rĭ-grět')

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).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

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.

Regret

Re*gret"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Regretted (-t[e^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Regretting.] [F. regretter, OF. regreter; L. pref. re- re- + a word of Teutonic origin; cf. Goth. gr[=e]tan to weep, Icel. gr[=a]ta. See Greet to lament.] To experience regret on account of; to lose or miss with a sense of regret; to feel sorrow or dissatisfaction on account of (the happening or the loss of something); as, to regret an error; to regret lost opportunities or friends.

Calmly he looked on either life, and here Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear. --Pope.

In a few hours they [the Israelites] began to regret their slavery, and to murmur against their leader. --Macaulay.

Recruits who regretted the plow from which they had been violently taken. --Macaulay.

Language Translation for : regret

Spanish: lamentar,

German: bedauern,

Japanese: 残念に思う

More Translations »

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.

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