1
as in heartbroken
expressing or suggesting mourning
gave me a regretful look when I told him we had to move my mother to a nursing home
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sorry
feeling sorrow for a wrong that one has done
was truly regretful that she had yelled at him
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Recent Examples of regretful
The irony is that songwriter Ezra Koenig and his buddies can’t relinquish memories, which inform, on the transportive B-side, the most somber, regretful music of their career.
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Pitchfork, 1 Oct. 2024
Danny White, whose football team is currently ranked No. 5, appears less regretful.
—Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 26 Sep. 2024
No more bunnies at Petco Petco will stop selling pet rabbits following criticism that the practice led to regretful owners, overwhelmed by bunny-care, Jonathan Limehouse reports.
—Daniel De Visé, USA TODAY, 24 Sep. 2024
People call it soulless, posting regretful before-and-after photos of house flippers ripping out hardwood in favor of gray laminate or turning warm Midcentury spaces into cold, modern ones.
—Jack Flemming, Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for regretful 
Pitchfork, 1 Oct. 2024
Danny White, whose football team is currently ranked No. 5, appears less regretful.
—Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico.com, 26 Sep. 2024
No more bunnies at Petco Petco will stop selling pet rabbits following criticism that the practice led to regretful owners, overwhelmed by bunny-care, Jonathan Limehouse reports.
—Daniel De Visé, USA TODAY, 24 Sep. 2024
People call it soulless, posting regretful before-and-after photos of house flippers ripping out hardwood in favor of gray laminate or turning warm Midcentury spaces into cold, modern ones.
—Jack Flemming, Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for regretful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for regretful
Adjective
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Dog Breeds For Your Perfect Match By Brian Dillon Home & Travel Reporter 0 A dog that chewed through a wall to see its owner has left the internet heartbroken.Joseph Epstein, Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2024
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Madison is flawless in these closing scenes: stunned, heartbroken, unable to respond to the tentative romantic gestures of a Russian henchman who's taken a shine to her.Tom Gliatto, People.com, 11 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Even his fellow prolific contemporaries don’t have a bar so high — sorry, Ridley Scott.Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 9 Dec. 2024
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Under the heading of ‘better safe than sorry,’ a few businesses had already taken precautions to safeguard their executives.Edward Segal, Forbes, 8 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Very few directors working today can put across a movie like Gladiator II as convincingly, which perhaps explains why the sequel — for all its barbaric violence and the plaintive, at times stirring, discussions about justice and democracy — doesn’t have the mournful quality that the first film did.Jennifer Zhan, Vulture, 22 Nov. 2024
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Russell Crowe beating people to death in a soulful, mournful way?Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 20 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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When parents don’t replicate these behaviors in real life, kids might feel disappointed or even ashamed.Holly Garcia, Parents, 5 Dec. 2024
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Justice was not served in this case and Joe Biden should be ashamed.Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press, 2 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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And every day, across from them, outside the clinic, about to enter or just leaving, there were women hugging each other and weeping.David Mamet, National Review, 11 Aug. 2022
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The show manages to stay on the brink — always laughing, never quite weeping — for its entire length.Helen Shaw, Vulture, 8 Dec. 2021
Adjective
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The crew seems to have learned their lesson, or at least put on their most remorseful faces.Emma Soren, Vulture, 3 Dec. 2024
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Caleb's very remorseful and his heartfelt sympathies are extended to the Parris family.Rachel DeSantis, People.com, 21 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Dido, after her lover Aeneas deserts her, kills herself with his sword on a funeral pyre, but not before building an effigy of him to burn alongside her.Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2024
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The Associated Press reported that the funeral location was not made public in advance to prevent a large crowd from gathering.Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times, 20 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Plus, apologetic memories of her dead European mother.Armond White, National Review, 13 Dec. 2024
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While apologetic about how vendors have been treated, the executives urged them to stick with Saks and Saks Off 5th, and expressed extreme confidence that the deal to buy the Neiman Marcus Group would soon close, ultimately benefiting — and not hurting — them.David Moin, WWD, 11 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Regretful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/regretful. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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