REGRET • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Regret

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/rəgrˈɛt/ /rɪgrˈɛt/ Listen

verb

Regret v. t. (past & past part. regretted; pres. part. regretting) 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." "In a few hours they (the Israelites) began to regret their slavery, and to murmur against their leader." "Recruits who regretted the plow from which they had been violently taken."

noun

Regret n.

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." "What man does not remember with regret the first time he read Robinson Crusoe?" "Never any prince expressed a more lively regret for the loss of a servant." "From its peaceful bosom (the grave) spring none but fond regrets and tender recollections."

Dislike; aversion. (Obs.)

Synonyms: 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.

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Etymology of 'Regret'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Regret" Quotes from Famous Books

... that country, under instructions, protested against the wanton act and demanded satisfaction. The Government of Honduras, actuated by a sense of justice and in a spirit of the utmost friendship, promptly disavowed the illegal conduct of its officers and expressed sincere regret for the occurrence. ...

— Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Volume 8, Section 2 (of 2): Grover Cleveland • Grover Cleveland

... and can you rest now, There beneath your hill? Your hands are on your breast now, But is your heart so still? 'Twas the right death to die, lad, A gift without regret, But unless truth's a lie, lad, ...

— Lynton and Lynmouth - A Pageant of Cliff & Moorland • John Presland

... the cardinal, "there are days when you make me regret that I am not of the world, but this is not one of them. You have quarrelled, I perceive. When you build your nest down yonder in the cote, I envy you. When you are giving up your lives to feeding your children, I envy you. I watch your flights for food for them. ...

— The Turquoise Cup, and, The Desert • Arthur Cosslett Smith

... but the Mexicans made peace, to the regret of Specimen Jones. He had looked round with some hopes of a crisis, and now for the first time he noticed ...

— Red Men and White • Owen Wister

... steadily forward, without much thought or trouble beyond that of patience and perseverance, all goes well; but if any sudden jolt should throw them out of this rut, they seem incapable of regaining it. They say, "I have lost my way; I shall never get it again." They sit down and regret the past, granting all their errors with the greatest candour; but the efforts they make to regain their position ...

— The Toilers of the Field • Richard Jefferies

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