Re*gret" (r?*gr?t"), n. [F., fr.
regretter. See Regret, v.]
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 (-t&ebreve;d); p. pr. & vb.
n. Regretting.] [F. regretter, OF.
regreter; L. pref. re- re- + a word of Teutonic origin;
cf. Goth. grētan to weep, Icel. grāta. See
Greet to lament.] 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.
