Adjacent Words

Regret definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

REGRET', n.
1. Grief; sorrow; pain of mind. We feel regret at the loss of friends, regret for our own misfortunes, or for the misfortunes of others.
Never any prince expressed a more lively regret for the loss of a servant.
Her piety itself would blame, if her regrets should waken thine.
2. Pain of conscience; remorse; as a passionate regret at sin.
3. Dislike; aversion. [Not proper nor in use.]
REGRET', v.t.
1. To grieve at; to lament; to be sorry for; to repent.
Calmly he look'd on either life, and here saw nothing to regret, or there to fear.
2. To be uneasy at. [Not proper nor in use.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
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, regret, rue, ruefulness] v
1: feel remorse for; feel sorry for; be contrite about [syn: repent, regret, rue]
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"

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (regretted; regretting) Etymology: Middle English regretten, from Anglo-French regreter, from re- + -greter (perhaps of Germanic origin; akin to Old Norse gr?ta to weep) — more at greet Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. a. to mourn the loss or death of b. to miss very much 2. to be very sorry for <regrets his mistakes> intransitive verb to experience regret • regretter noun II. noun Date: 1590 1. sorrow aroused by circumstances beyond one's control or power to repair 2. a. an expression of distressing emotion (as sorrow or disappointment) b. plural a note politely declining an invitation Synonyms: see sorrow • regretful adjective • regretfulness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. (regretted, regretting) (often foll. by that + clause) 1 feel or express sorrow or repentance or distress over (an action or loss etc.) (I regret that I forgot; regretted your absence). 2 (often foll. by to + infin. or that + clause) acknowledge with sorrow or remorse (I regret to say that you are wrong; regretted he would not be attending). --n. 1 a feeling of sorrow, repentance, disappointment, etc., over an action or loss etc. 2 (often in pl.) an (esp. polite or formal) expression of disappointment or sorrow at an occurrence, inability to comply, etc. (refused with many regrets; heard with regret of her death). Phrases and idioms: give (or send) one's regrets formally decline an invitation. Etymology: ME f. OF regreter bewail

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(regrets, regretting, regretted) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If you regret something that you have done, you wish that you had not done it. I simply gave in to him, and I've regretted it ever since... Ellis seemed to be regretting that he had asked the question... Five years later she regrets having given up her home. VERB: V n, V that, V -ing 2. Regret is a feeling of sadness or disappointment, which is caused by something that has happened or something that you have done or not done. Lillee said he had no regrets about retiring. N-VAR 3. You can say that you regret something as a polite way of saying that you are sorry about it. You use expressions such as I regret to say or I regret to inform you to show that you are sorry about something. 'I very much regret the injuries he sustained,' he said... I regret that the United States has added its voice to such protests... Her lack of co-operation is nothing new, I regret to say... VERB: V n, V that, V to-inf [politeness] 4. If someone expresses regret about something, they say that they are sorry about it. (FORMAL) He expressed great regret and said that surgeons would attempt to reverse the operation... She has accepted his resignation with regret.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Grief, sorrow, trouble, sorrowful longing, concern, lamentation. 2. Penitence, compunction, remorse, repentance, contrition, self-condemnation. II. v. a. 1. Lament, grieve at, be sorry for, deplore. 2. Repent, repent of, mourn for, rue, bewail, bemoan.

Moby Thesaurus

abject apology, acknowledgment, affliction, anguish, apologies, apology, attrition, ayenbite of inwit, be sorry for, bemoan, bewail, bitterness, breast-beating, care, compunction, confession, contriteness, contrition, demur, deplore, deprecate, disappointment, disapprove, dole, dolor, excuse, feel sorry for, grief, grieve, guilt, heartache, heartbreak, lament, mea culpa, mourn, mournfulness, pangs of conscience, penitence, qualm, refusal, regretfulness, regrets, regretting, remorse, remorse of conscience, remorsefulness, repent, repentance, repine, repining, rue, rue the day, ruefulness, sadness, scruple, second thoughts, self-condemnation, self-reproach, shame, shamefacedness, shamefastness, shamefulness, sorriness, sorrow, weep over, wistfulness, woe