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# regret

«regret» in Mova's school dictionary: **to feel sorry or sad about something you did or did not…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (regret, regrets, regretted, regretting); noun (regret, regrets)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To regret something is to feel sorry or sad about something you did or did not do, and wish it had been different. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/regret/#m1)

2) Regret is that sad, sorry feeling. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/regret/#m2)

3) In polite, formal writing, «We regret…» means «We are sorry to say…». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/regret/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In stories and lessons about feelings, characters regret mean words or bad choices and then try to make things right. Phrases: «I regret it», «no regrets», «regret doing», «to my regret», «We regret to inform you».

### examples

- I regret shouting at my brother. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/regret/#x1)
- She regretted not wearing her coat when it started to snow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/regret/#x2)
- He said sorry because he regretted breaking the vase. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/regret/#x3)
- Try things now so you have no regrets later. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/regret/#x4)
- We regret that the swimming pool is closed today. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/regret/#x5)
- The fox regretted being greedy when he lost his food. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/regret/#x6)
- It was not long, however, before he had cause to regret his weakness. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/regret/#x7)

### note

Past: «regretted» (double t). Adjectives: «regretful» (feeling regret) and «regrettable» (something to be sorry about). «Regret doing» = sorry about what you did; «regret to say» = sorry about what you are going to say.

### In the corpora

- [Some feuds are never mended, and people often regret it for the rest of their lives.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/474-feuds-between-families/32/)
- [Regret is the feeling of wishing you had not done something; it can help you choose better next time.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/10-regret-silly-buys-and-peer-pressure/5/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «regret» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/regret/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.