regret
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
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[edit]
Verb[edit]
regret (third-person singular simple present regrets, present participle regretting, simple past and past participle regretted)
- 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!
- (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[edit]
- "Regret" 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[edit]
Translations[edit]
feel sorry about some past thing
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to feel sorry about anything
Noun[edit]
regret (countable and uncountable, plural regrets)
- 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.
- Macaulay
- (obsolete) Dislike; aversion.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Dr. H. More to this entry?)
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
instance of such an emotion
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See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- regret in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- regret in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
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[edit]
Noun[edit]
regret m (plural regrets)
Related terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “regret” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Interlingua[edit]
Noun[edit]
regret (plural regrets)
Related terms[edit]
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Frankish
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English words prefixed with re-
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- Requests for quotation/Dr. H. More
- en:Emotions
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms derived from Frankish
- French terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns
- fr:Emotions
- Interlingua lemmas
- Interlingua nouns
