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Webster's New World College Dictionary » regretful
regretful
Variant of regret
regret
definition
re·gret (ri gret′)
transitive verb regretted -·gret′·ted, regretting -·gret′·ting
- to feel sorry about or mourn for (a person or thing gone, lost, etc.)
- to feel troubled or remorseful over (something that has happened, one's own acts, etc.)
Etymology: ME regretten < OFr regreter, to bewail the dead < re- + Gmc base as in OE gretan, ON grata, Goth gretan, to weep
noun
- a troubled feeling or remorse over something that has happened, esp. over something that one has done or left undone
- sorrow over a person or thing gone, lost, etc.
Related Forms:
- regretful re·gret′·ful adjective
- regretfully re·gret′·fully adverb
- regretfulness re·gret′·ful·ness noun
- regretter re·gret′·ter noun
regret Idioms
(one's) regrets
a polite expression of regret, as at declining an invitation
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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