How do you use the word "regret" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "regret": Sooner or later, you will regret your idleness. You will soon regret your rash conduct.

Regret Meaning

/ɹɪˈɡɹɛt/

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

verbTo 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.

verbTo feel sorry about (any thing).

Sentence Examples

Sooner or later, you will regret your idleness.

You will soon regret your rash conduct.

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Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

rue sorrow repent

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

After yelling at his friend, he began to ____ his harsh words deeply.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

She expressed deep ____ for the harm her actions had caused and promised to make amends.

Word Origin & History

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 From Middle English regretten, regreten, from Old French regreter, regrater (“to lament”), from re- (intensive prefix) + *greter, *grater (“to weep”), from Frankish *grātan (“to weep, mourn, lament”), from Proto-Germanic *grētaną (“to weep”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰreh₁d- (“to sound”); and Frankish *greutan (“to cry, weep”), from Proto-Germanic *greutaną (“to weep, cry”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd- (“to weep, be sad”), equivalent to re- + greet. Cognate with Old High German grāzan (“to cry”), Old English grǣtan (“to weep, greet”), Old English grēotan (“to weep, lament”), Old Norse gráta (“to weep, groan”), Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (grētan, “to weep”). More at greet.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair." — 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

"Dear humanity, we regret bein' alien bastards, we regret comin' to Earth, and we most definitely regret the Corps just blew up our raggedy-ass fleet!" — 2004 November 9, Bungie, Halo 2, spoken by Avery Johnson (David Scully), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox, level/area: Outskirts:

"He more than ever regretted his home, and with increased desire longed to see his family." — 1845, The Church of England Magazine, volume 19, page 301:

"This [the Cage] was but one of Cluny’s hiding-places; he had caves, besides, and underground chambers in several parts of his country; and following the reports of his scouts, he moved from one to another as the soldiers drew near or moved away. By this manner of living, and thanks to the affection of his clan, he had not only stayed all this time in safety, while so many others had fled or been taken and slain: but stayed four or five years longer, and only went to France at last by the express command of his master. There he soon died; and it is strange to reflect that he may have regretted his Cage upon Ben Alder." — 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC:

"What man does not remember with regret the first time he read Robinson Crusoe?" — 1828, Thomas Macaulay, John Dryden:

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