REGRET • DICTIONARY ONE.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

... come off. I suppose, as a matter of fact, I sat down to breakfast just about the time when the gastronomic warrior was thinking of luncheon. However, when I saw how amply my expectation of a change in the weather had been fulfilled, I did not regret my lengthy sleep. From a sodden grey sky sheets of water were steadily pouring. There was not the slightest chance of any break in the clouds. Consequently I felt assured of finding Miss Maitland at home if I made my call ...

— The Motor Pirate • George Sidney Paternoster

... settings, will carry us far as the impulse lasts, but that in all probability will be only as far as Haran. And as Terah died at Haran, so shall we. It will be from moon to moon. Youth is the time to determine whether old age shall be a beautiful consummation, or a bitter regret. The threshold of manhood is the place to form resolutions that will have some chance of being kept, to cultivate the thoughts you would have ultimately become things. The serious danger is that, with ...

— Men in the Making • Ambrose Shepherd

... a few words which were decisive. "I have seen the paper," he said; "and I grieve to say that there is nothing in it which will give your Lordships any satisfaction." In truth it contained no expression of regret for pass errors; it held out no hope that those errors would for the future be avoided; and it threw the blame of all that had happened on the malice of William and on the blindness of a nation deluded by the specious names of religion and property. None ventured to propose ...

— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 2 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... together, said to me that He would have me accept him in His place for my whole life, and that we were both to have one mind in all things, for so it was fitting. I was profoundly convinced that this was the work of God, though I remembered with regret two of my confessors whom I frequented in turn for a long time, and to whom I owed much; that one for whom I have a great affection especially caused a terrible resistance. Nevertheless, not being ...

— The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus • Teresa of Avila

... her mistress. "You have done not only Ben, but myself, a valuable service. You can go. I will see that you do not regret it." ...

— The Store Boy • Horatio Alger, Jr.

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