regretfully en · ADV
Pronunciation
Etymology
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 Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós Proto-Germanic *fullaz Proto-Germanic *-fullaz Old English -ful Middle English -ful English -ful English regretful Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Middle English -ly English -ly English regretfully From regretful + -ly.
Meanings
-
In a regretful manner, with regret.
To that end he had sent his men among the common folk of the town, from whom came a litany of tales that led Hawk to a stunningly wrong conclusion. "It seems I may not be good enough at listening," he said regretfully.
2009 July 22, Josie Litton, Come Back to Me: A Novel (Viking & Saxon), Random House Publishing Group, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 102:So after learning a great deal about iron founding and much more about pike fishing, one regretfully took leave of a shop full of kindly characters and proceeded to a worse lot of odours in the brass foundry.
1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 343:The steak and chips partaken of for lunch seemed now to belong to another decade. He regretfully recognized the fact that he would not make a success of a hunger strike.
1922, Agatha Christie, “Chapter 17”, in The Secret Adversary:
- (proscribed) Unfortunately, in a manner inspiring or deserving regret; used only as a sentence adverb (to introduce and modify an entire sentence).
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most regretfully | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more regretfully | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Synonyms
regrettably (unfortunately) · sadly (unfortunately) · ruefully (in a regretful manner) · unfortunately (unfortunately) · sad to say (unfortunately) · sorrowfully (in a regretful manner) · alas (unfortunately)
Translations (2)
es lamentablemente (in a regretful manner) · fi valitettavasti (in a regretful manner)