Standard Lemma guide

regretful

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: R IH0 G R EH1 T F AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Full of feelings of regret, indulging in regrets.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: repining, rueful, remorseful

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Sorrowful about what has been lost or done.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • feel bitterly regretful
  • feel deeply regretful
  • feel sincerely regretful

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

feeling or expressing regret or sorrow or a sense of loss over something done or undone

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • felt regretful over his vanished youth
  • regretful over mistakes she had made
  • he felt bad about breaking the vase

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sorry, bad

Antonyms: unregretful

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re-der. Old French re- Proto-Indo-European *ǵhreh1d-der. Proto-Germanic *grētaną Frankish *grātander. Old French *greter Old French regreterbor. Middle English regretten English regret Proto-Indo-European *pleh1- Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h1nós Proto-Germanic *fullaz Proto-Germanic *-fullaz Old English -ful Middle English -ful English -ful English regretful From regret + -ful.

Across languages

Translations

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Azerbaijani: peşman — full of regret
  • Finnish: katuvainen — full of regret
  • German: bedauernd — full of regret
  • German: reuevoll — full of regret
  • Greek: περίλυπος (perílypos) — full of regret
  • Greek: μετανιωμένος (metanioménos) — full of regret
  • Irish: aiféalach — full of regret
  • Central Kurdish: پەشیمان (peşîman) — full of regret
  • Persian: پشیمان (pašimân) — full of regret
  • Plautdietsch: leet (nds) — full of regret
  • Portuguese: arrependido — full of regret
  • Russian: ка́ющийся (kájuščijsja) — full of regret
  • Russian: сожале́ющий (sožaléjuščij) — full of regret
  • Russian: жале́ющий (žaléjuščij) — full of regret
  • Spanish: arrepentido — full of regret
  • Swedish: ångefull — full of regret
  • Swedish: ångerfylld — full of regret
  • Ottoman Turkish: پشیمان (peşiman, pişman) — full of regret
  • Azerbaijani: mütəəssif — sorrowful about what has been lost or done
  • Azerbaijani: kədərlənən — sorrowful about what has been lost or done
  • Azerbaijani: heyifsilənən — sorrowful about what has been lost or done
  • Russian: опеча́ленный (opečálennyj) — sorrowful about what has been lost or done