What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Detest vs Regret - What's the difference?

detest | regret |

In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between detest and regret

is that detest is (obsolete) to witness against; to denounce; to condemn while regret is (obsolete) dislike; aversion.

As verbs the difference between detest and regret

is that detest is to dislike intensely; to loathe while regret is to 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.

As a noun regret is

emotional pain on account of something done or experienced in the past, with a wish that it had been different; a looking back with dissatisfaction or with longing.

detest

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To dislike intensely; to loathe.
  • I detest snakes.
    Who dares think one thing, and another tell, / My heart detests him as the gates of hell. — Pope.
  • (obsolete) To witness against; to denounce; to condemn.
  • The heresy of Nestorius was detested in the Eastern churches. — Fuller.
    God hath detested them with his own mouth. — Bale.

    Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) . See

    Synonyms

    * See also

    See also

    * abhor * despise * disdain * dislike * hate * loathe

    Anagrams

    *

    regret

    English

    (wikipedia regret)

    Verb

    (regrett)
  • To 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.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=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.}}
  • (more generally) To feel sorry about (any thing).
  • Usage notes

    This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (the (-ing) form), except in set phrases with tell, say, and inform, where the to infinitive is used. See

    Derived terms

    * regretter

    Noun

  • Emotional pain on account of something done or experienced in the past, with a wish that it had been different; a looking back with dissatisfaction or with longing.
  • * Macaulay
  • What man does not remember with regret the first time he read Robinson Crusoe ?
  • * Clarendon
  • Never any prince expressed a more lively regret for the loss of a servant.
  • * Washington Irving
  • From its peaceful bosom [the grave] spring none but fond regrets and tender recollections.
  • (obsolete) Dislike; aversion.
  • See also

    * remorse * repentance