Regret Definition

rĭ-grĕt

regrets, regretted, regretting

verb

regrets, regretted, regretting

To feel sorry about or mourn for (a person or thing gone, lost, etc.)

Webster's New World

To remember with a feeling of loss or sorrow; mourn.

American Heritage

To feel troubled or remorseful over (something that has happened, one's own acts, etc.)

Webster's New World

To feel regret.

American Heritage

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.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Synonyms:
bite-one-s-tongue
kick-oneself
laugh out of the other side of one's mouth
rue-the-day
feel uneasy about
be disturbed over
weep over
have qualms about
moan
bemoan
feel conscience-stricken
look back upon
feel remorse for
have compunctions about
repine

Antonyms:

Antonyms:
be satisfied with
rejoice
celebrate
be satisfied
be content
welcome
applaud

noun

regrets

A troubled feeling or remorse over something that has happened, esp. over something that one has done or left undone.

Webster's New World

Sorrow over a person or thing gone, lost, etc.

Webster's New World

A courteous expression of regret, especially at having to decline an invitation.

American Heritage

A response declining an invitation.

He sent his regrets before the deadline.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

Other Word Forms of Regret

Noun

Singular:

regret

Plural:

regrets

Origin of Regret

From Middle English regretten, from Old French regreter, regrater (“to lament"), from re- (intensive prefix) + *greter, *grater (“to weep"), from Old Frankish *grÄ“tan ("to weep, mourn, lament"; from Proto-Germanic *grÄ“tanÄ… (“to weep")), and Old Frankish *grÄ“otan (“to cry, weep"), from Proto-Germanic *greutanÄ… (“to weep, cry"), from Proto-Indo-European *ghrew- (“to weep, be sad"), equivalent to re- +"Ž greet. Cognate with Middle High German grāzan (“to cry"), Old English grÇ£tan (“to weep, greet"), Old English grÄ“otan (“to weep, lament"), Old Norse gráta (“to weep, groan"), Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (gretan, “to weep"). More at greet.

From Wiktionary
Middle English regretten to lament from Old French regreter re- re- -greter to weep (perhaps of Germanic origin)

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition