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Resentment vs Regret - What's the difference?

resentment | regret |

In obsolete terms the difference between resentment and regret

is that resentment is satisfaction; gratitude while regret is dislike; aversion.

As nouns the difference between resentment and regret

is that resentment is a feeling of anger or displeasure stemming from belief that one has been wronged by others or betrayed; indignation while 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.

As a verb 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.

resentment

English

Noun

  • A feeling of anger or displeasure stemming from belief that one has been wronged by others or betrayed; indignation.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=August 5 , author=Nathan Rabin , title=TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993) citation , page= , passage=“I Love Lisa” opens with one of my favorite underappreciated running jokes from The Simpsons : the passive-aggressive, quietly contentious relationship of radio jocks Bill and Marty, whose mindless happy talk regularly gives way to charged exchanges that betray the simmering resentment and disappointment perpetually lingering just under the surface of their relationship.}}
  • * 1812 ,
  • Amongst the most violent against him was Mrs. Bennet, whose dislike of his general behaviour was sharpened into particular resentment by his having slighted one of her daughters.
  • (obsolete) The state of holding something in the mind as a subject of contemplation, or of being inclined to reflect upon it; feeling; impression.
  • * Dr. H. More
  • He retains vivid resentments of the more solid morality.
  • * Jeremy Taylor
  • It is a greater wonder that so many of them die, with so little resentment of their danger.
  • (obsolete) satisfaction; gratitude
  • * 1651 , The Council Book
  • The Council taking notice of the many good services performed by Mr. John Milton have thought fit to declare their resentment and good acceptance of the same.

    See also

    * dudgeon * umbrage

    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