Regret

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /ɹiˈɡɹɛt/, /ɹəˈɡɹɛt/
• Rhymes: -É›t

Origin

From Middle English regretten, from Old French regreter, regrater ("to lament"), from re- + *greter, *grater ("to weep"), from Old Frankish *grētan (), 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 - + 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.

Full definition of regret

Verb

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.
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, 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.
2. He regretted his words.
3. (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

Derived terms

• regretter

Noun

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.
• MacaulayWhat man does not remember with regret the first time he read Robinson Crusoe?
• ClarendonNever any prince expressed a more lively regret for the loss of a servant.
• Washington IrvingFrom its peaceful bosom grave spring none but fond regrets and tender recollections.
2. (obsolete) Dislike; aversion.