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Webster 1913 Edition

Regret

Re-gret′

(r?-gr?t′)
,
Noun.
[F., fr.
regretter
. See
Regret
,
Verb.
]
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.
–
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.

Re-gret′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Regretted
(-tĕd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Regretting
.]
[F.
regretter
, OF.
regreter
; L. pref.
re-
re- + a word of Teutonic origin; cf. Goth.
grētan
to weep, Icel.
grāta
. 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 1828 Edition

Regret

REGRET'

,
Noun.
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'

,
Verb.
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.]

Definition 2024

regret

regret

English

Verb

regret ‎(third-person singular simple present regrets, present participle regretting, simple past and past participle regretted)

  1. To feel sorry about (a thing that has or has not happened), afterthink: to wish that a thing had not happened, that something else had happened instead.
    He regretted his words.‎
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
      Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.
    • 2004 November 9, David Scully as Avery Johnson, Halo 2 (video game cutscenes), Microsoft Studios:
      Dear humanity, we regret bein' alien bastards, we regret comin' to Earth, and we most definitely regret the Corps just blew up our raggedy-ass fleet!
  2. (more generally) To feel sorry about (any thing).
    I regret that I have to do this, but I don't have a choice.‎

Usage notes

This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (the -ing form), except in set phrases with tell, say, and inform, where the to infinitive is used. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

regret ‎(countable and uncountable, plural regrets)

  1. Emotional pain 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.
    • Macaulay
      What man does not remember with regret the first time he read Robinson Crusoe?
    • Clarendon
      Never any prince expressed a more lively regret for the loss of a servant.
    • Washington Irving
      From its peaceful bosom [the grave] spring none but fond regrets and tender recollections.
  2. (obsolete) Dislike; aversion.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Dr. H. More to this entry?)

Derived terms

Translations

See also

French

Etymology

From Middle French regret, from Old French regret ‎(“lamentation, complaint”), deverbal of regreter ‎(“to lament”), from re- ‎(intensive prefix) +‎ greter ‎(to weep), from Frankish *grêtan ‎(“to weep, mourn, lament”), from Proto-Germanic *grētaną ‎(“to weep”) and Frankish *grêotan ‎(“to cry, weep”), from Proto-Germanic *greutaną ‎(“to weep, cry”), from Proto-Indo-European *ghrew- ‎(“to weep, be sad”). More at regret.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʁə.ɡʁɛ/

Noun

regret m ‎(plural regrets)

  1. regret

Related terms

Interlingua

Noun

regret ‎(plural regrets)

  1. regret, repentance

Related terms

Etymology

From Middle English regretten, from Old French regreter, regrater ‎(“to lament”), from re- ‎(intensive prefix) + *greter, *grater ‎(“to weep”), from Old Frankish *grētan ("to weep, mourn, lament"; from Proto-Germanic *grētaną ‎(“to weep”)), and Old Frankish *grēotan ‎(“to cry, weep”), from Proto-Germanic *greutaną ‎(“to weep, cry”), from Proto-Indo-European *ghrew- ‎(“to weep, be sad”), equivalent to re- +‎ greet. Cognate with Middle High German grāzan ‎(“to cry”), Old English grǣtan ‎(“to weep, greet”), Old English grēotan ‎(“to weep, lament”), Old Norse gráta ‎(“to weep, groan”), Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 ‎(gretan, “to weep”). More at greet.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɹɪˈɡɹɛt/, /ɹəˈɡɹɛt/, /ɹiˈɡɹɛt/
  • Rhymes: -ɛt

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