regret

Definition

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.

Etymology

From Middle English regretten, regreten, from Old French regreter, regrater (“to lament”), from re- (intensive prefix) + *greter, *grater (“to weep”), from Frankish *grātan (“to weep, mourn, lament”), from Proto-Germanic *grētaną (“to weep”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁d- (“to sound”); and Frankish *greutan (“to cry, weep”), from Proto-Germanic *greutaną (“to weep, cry”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd- (“to weep, be sad”), equivalent to re- + greet. Cognate with Old 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 (grētan, “to weep”). More at greet.

Example Sentences

• "He regretted his words."
• "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."
• "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!"