Regrets
[rɪ'grets] or [rɪ'ɡrɛts]
Unserious Contents or Definition
An excuse for non-attendance at a social function. Occasionally, an expression of sorrow; usually, a paean of praise at deliverance from evil.
Editor: Winthrop
Examples
- I gave Lucy in charge to the Countess's attendant, and then sought repose from my various struggles and impatient regrets. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life become a beautiful success, in spite of poverty. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Thoughtfully, for I could not be here once more, and so near Agnes, without the revival of those regrets with which I had so long been occupied. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Then comes remorse, with all its vipers, mixed with vain regrets for the past, and despair for the future! Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Your feelings are as well known to me as my wishes and regrets must be to you. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- When standing before certain men the philosopher regrets that thinkers are but perishable tissue, the artist that perishable tissue has to think. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- I think it is one's function as a medical man to hinder regrets of that sort as far as possible. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- But his wife's expostulations awoke his half-slumbering regrets; and Tom's manly disinterestedness increased the unpleasantness of his feelings. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Let us go even where you will; the love that accompanies us will prevent our regrets. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- And why had I these aspirations and these regrets? Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Calling on his nearest friend the next morning for even a pair of suspenders, Mr. Andrews was met with regrets of inability, because the burglars had also been there. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Softened regrets they might be, teaching me what I had failed to learn when my younger life was all before me, but not the less regrets. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- My own heart was racked by regrets and remorse. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- I have heard Mr. Casaubon say that he regrets your want of patience, said Dorothea, gently. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Sir James had long ceased to have any regrets on his own account: his heart was satisfied with his engagement to Celia. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
Typist: Marcus