regret

/ɹɪˈɡɹɛt/

regret verb: 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.

Verb

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.
- I don't regret enrolling in law, but I regret not studying some Chinese.
Synonyms:

rue
(broadly) To feel sorry about (any thing).
- I regret that I have to do this, but I don't have a choice.
- They said they regretted to inform us that the train would be late.
Synonyms:

grieve, lament, aggrieve, besorrow, condole, darken, engrieve, erme, gloom, grieven
(archaic, transitive) To miss; to feel the loss or absence of; to mourn.
- He more than ever regretted his home, and with increased desire longed to see his family.1845, The Church of England Magazine, volume 19, page 301
- This [the Cage] was but one of Cluny’s hiding-places; he had caves, besides, and underground chambers in several parts of his country; and following the reports of his scouts, he moved from one to another as the soldiers drew near or moved away. By this manner of living, and thanks to the affection...1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC

Noun

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.
- What man does not remember with regret the first time he read Robinson Crusoe?1828, Thomas Macaulay, John Dryden
- Never any prince expressed a more lively regret for the loss of a servant.1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed...
Synonyms:

nostalgia, remorse, repentance, unsatisfaction, agenbite, rue, ruth, compunction, contrition, guilt
(obsolete) Dislike; aversion.
- Is it a vertue to have some ineffective regrets to damnation, and such a Vertue too, as shall serve to ballance all our vices?1667, Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety
(decision theory) The amount of avoidable loss that results from choosing the wrong action.
- Under squared errorloss we show that there exists unique minimax regret solution for the problem of selecting the threshold.2002, Bernd Droge, On the Minimax Regret Estimation of a Restricted Normal Mean, and Implications
- Each loss then represents this unavoidable loss plus a regret (loss due to ignorance of Ө). Subtracting these unavoidable losses, we obtain the regret table, Table 1.7, and the average regret table, Table 1.8.2012, Herman Chernoff, Lincoln E. Moses, Elementary Decision Theory, page 12
One who was invited to an event who was unable to attend, but notified the organizer of this beforehand; a nonattendee.

regret meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

regret in Hindi

feel sorry about some past thing: पछताना pachtānā
to feel sorry about anything: पछताना pachtānā
instance of such an emotion: अफ़सोस afsos, पछतावा pachtāvā, पश्चात्ताप paścāttāp

regret in Marathi

to regret, repent: पस्तावणे pastāvṇe
regret, contrition: खंत khanta
regret, remorse: खेद khed

regret in Urdu

instance of such an emotion: افسوس afsos

More languagesFewer languages

regret in Bengali: আফসোস aphośōs
regret in Telugu: విచారించు vicāriñcu, విచారం vicāraṁ
regret in Malayalam: പശ്ചാത്താപം paścāttāpaṁ
regret in Kannada: ಬೇಸರಿಸು, ಮರುಗು
regret in Punjabi: ਪਛਤਾਵਾ pachtāvā
regret in Gujarati: પસ્તાવો pastāvo, પસ્તાવું pastāvũ, વિમાસવું vimāsvũ
regret in Odia: ଦୁଃଖ duḥkha, ଭାଳିବା bhāḷibā
regret in Sanskrit: शोचति śocati
regret in Assamese: আফচোচ aphsüs
regret in Nepali: पछुतो pachuto, पश्चाताप paścātāp, आत्मग्लानि ātmaglāni
regret in Arabic: نَدِمَ nadima, تَأَسَّفَ taʔassafa, أَسَف ʔasaf, تَأَسُّف taʔassuf
regret in Malay: sesal, penyesalan
regret in Indonesian: menyesal, penyesalan
regret in Persian: افسوس خوردن afsus xordan, افسوسیدن afsusidan, پشیمان شدن pašimân šodan, افسوس afsus
regret in Thai: เสียใจ sǐia-jai, เสียดาย sǐia-daai
regret in Vietnamese: hối tiếc, hối hận
Sindhi: افسوس āfsos

Examples of regret in a sentence

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.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company...
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!2004 November 9, Bungie, Halo 2, spoken by Avery Johnson (David Scully), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox, level/area: Outskirts:
There he soon died; and it is strange to reflect that he may have regretted his Cage upon Ben Alder.1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London...
From its peaceful bosom [the grave] spring none but fond regrets and tender recollections.1819 June 23 – 1820 September 13, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “(please specify the title)”, in The Sketch Book of...

All 40 example sentences with regret

Synonyms of regret

21 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of regret

Forms of regret

Verb
third-person singular present	regrets
present participle	regretting
past participle	regretted
past	regretted
Noun
plural	regrets

Past tense of regret: regretted

Plural of regret: regrets

Origin of regret

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.

Words formed from regret

Phrases with regret

Words that rhyme with regret

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about regret

What does regret mean?: Regret means 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.
What is regret in Hindi?: Regret in Hindi is पछताना (pachtānā), अफ़सोस (afsos), पछतावा (pachtāvā). See Regret meaning in Hindi.
How do you use regret in a sentence?: 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.
What part of speech is regret?: Regret can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce regret?: Regret is pronounced /ɹɪˈɡɹɛt/.
What is the past tense of regret?: The past tense of regret is regretted.

Words near regret in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-regret.ogg.

Cite this entry: “regret.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/regret. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.