REGRET
sorrow, regret, rue, ruefulness
(noun) sadness associated with some wrong done or some disappointment; “he drank to drown his sorrows”; “he wrote a note expressing his regret”; “to his rue, the error cost him the game”
regret
(verb) express with regret; “I regret to say that you did not gain admission to Harvard”
regret
(verb) decline formally or politely; “I regret I can’t come to the party”
repent, regret, rue
(verb) feel remorse for; feel sorry for; be contrite about
regret
(verb) feel sad about the loss or absence of
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
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.
(more generally) To feel sorry about (any thing).
(archaic, transitive) To miss; to feel the loss or absence of.
Usage notes
• "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 English catenative verbs
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.
(obsolete) Dislike; aversion.
Source: Wiktionary
Re*gret" (r*grt"), n Etym: [F., fr. regretter. See Regret, ]
1. Pain of mind 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; grief; sorrow; especially, a
mourning on account of the loss of some joy, advantage, or
satisfaction. "A passionate regret at sin." Dr. H. More.
What man does not remember with regret the first time he read
Robinson Crusoe Macaulay.
Never any prince expressed a more lively regret for the loss of a
servant. Clarendon.
From its peaceful bosom [the grave] spring none but fond regrets and
tender recollections. W. Irving.
2. Dislike; aversion. [Obs.] Dr. H. More.
Syn.
– Grief; concern; sorrow; lamentation; repentance; penitence; self-
condemnation.
– Regret, Remorse, Compunction, Contrition, Repentance. Regret does
not carry with it the energy of remorse, the sting of compunction,
the sacredness of contrition, or the practical character of
repentance. We even apply the term regret to circumstance over which
we have had no control, as the absence of friends or their loss. When
connected with ourselves, it relates rather to unwise acts than to
wrong or sinful ones. C. J. Smith.
Re*gret", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Regretted (-td); p. pr. & vb. n.
Regretting.] Etym: [F. regretter, OF. regreter; L. pref. re- re- + a
word of Teutonic origin; cf. Goth. gr to weep, Icel. gr. See Greet to
lament.]
Definition: To experience regret on account of; to lose or miss with a
sense of regret; to feel sorrow or dissatisfaction on account of (the
happening or the loss of something); as, to regret an error; to
regret lost opportunities or friends.
Calmly he looked on either life, and here Saw nothing to regret, or
there to fear. Pope.
In a few hours they [the Israelites] began to regret their slavery,
and to murmur against their leader. Macaulay.
Recruits who regretted the plow from which they had been violently
taken. Macaulay.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition