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regrettable

[ri-gret-uh-buhl]

adjective

causing or deserving regret; unfortunate; deplorable.

Also, re·gret·a·ble.

Origin:
1595–1605; < Middle French regret(t)able; see regret, -able

Related forms

re·gret·ta·ble·ness, noun

re·gret·ta·bly, adverb

un·re·gret·ta·ble, adjective

un·re·gret·ta·b·ly, adverb

Can be confused: regretful, regrettable.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Regrettable is always a great word to know.

So is interrobang. Does it mean:

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

regret (rɪˈɡrɛt)

—vb , -grets, -gretting, -gretted
1.	(may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to feel sorry, repentant, or upset about
2.	to bemoan or grieve the death or loss of

—n
3.	a sense of repentance, guilt, or sorrow, as over some wrong done or an unfulfilled ambition
4.	a sense of loss or grief
5.	(plural) a polite expression of sadness, esp in a formal refusal of an invitation

[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

re'gretful

—*adj*

re'gretfully

—*adv*

re'gretfulness

—n

re'grettable

—*adj*

re'grettably

—*adv*

re'gretter

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Related Words

regretful sorry

sorry

Matching Quote

"I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate."

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

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