regret
Noun · VerbOpen English WordNet
Verb (4)regretted, regretting, regrets
- feel remorse for; feel sorry for; be contrite aboutSynonyms: repentrueMore general feel, experience
- feel sad about the loss or absence ofMore general miss
- decline formally or politely“I regret I can't come to the party”More general refuse, decline
- express with regret“I regret to say that you did not gain admission to Harvard”More general informMore specific fear
Noun (1)regrets
- 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”Synonyms: sorrowrueruefulnessType of sadness, unhappinessKinds compunction, attrition
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Verb feel sorry about some past thing
- Spanish
- arrepentirse
- French
- regretter
- German
- bedauern
- Italian
- rimpiangere
- Portuguese
- lamentar
- Turkish
- pişman olmak
- Russian
- сожале́ть sožalétʹ
- Arabic
- نَدِمَ nadima
- Chinese
- 后悔 hòuhuǐ
- Japanese
- 悔いる kuiru
25 more languages
- Dutch
- betreuren
- Polish
- żałować
- Swedish
- ångra
- Greek
- μετανιώνω metanióno
- Korean
- 후회하다 huhoehada
- Indonesian
- menyesal
- Vietnamese
- hối tiếc
- Hungarian
- sajnál
- Portuguese (PT)
- lamentar
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 後悔 hòuhuǐ
- Albanian
- pendohem
- Catalan
- penedir-se
- Czech
- litovat
- Danish
- fortryde
- Esperanto
- bedaŭri
- Estonian
- kahetsema
- Finnish
- katua
- Hebrew
- הצטער hitsta'ér
- Icelandic
- sjá eftir
- Norwegian
- angre
- Romanian
- regreta
- Serbo-Croatian
- zažaliti
- Slovenian
- obžalovati
- Welsh
- edifaru
- Yiddish
- באַדויערן badoyern
Noun instance of such an emotion
- Spanish
- pesar
- French
- regret
- German
- Reue
- Italian
- rammarico
- Portuguese
- arrependimento
- Russian
- сожале́ние sožalénije
- Arabic
- أَسَف ʔasaf
- Chinese
- 遗憾 yíhàn
- Japanese
- 後悔 kōkai
- Dutch
- spijt
20 more languages
- Polish
- żal
- Swedish
- ånger
- Greek
- λύπη lýpi
- Korean
- 후회 huhoe
- Indonesian
- kesedihan
- Hungarian
- megbánás
- Portuguese (PT)
- arrependimento
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 遺憾 yíhàn
- Albanian
- keqardhje
- Catalan
- recança
- Czech
- lítost
- Danish
- beklagelse
- Esperanto
- bedaŭro
- Finnish
- katumus
- Hebrew
- חֲרָטָה harata
- Norwegian
- anger
- Romanian
- regret
- Serbo-Croatian
- žalost
- Swahili
- juto
- Yiddish
- באַדויערונג badoyerung
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: 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. Henry More
What man does not remember with regret the first time he read Robinson Crusoe?— Thomas Babington Macaulay
Never any prince expressed a more lively regret for the loss of a servant.— Edward Hyde, first earl of Clarendon
From its peaceful bosom [the grave] spring none but fond regrets and tender recollections.— Washington Irving
2. Dislike; aversion. obsolete Dr. Henry More
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. Charles John Smith
Origin: 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.— Alexander Pope
In a few hours they [the Israelites] began to regret their slavery, and to murmur against their leader.— Thomas Babington Macaulay
Recruits who regretted the plow from which they had been violently taken.— Thomas Babington Macaulay
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54