Dictionary

unregretfully en · ADV

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- 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 English unregretfully From un- + regretfully.

Meanings

1. In an unregretful manner; without regret.
   • But she was the gayest of all the gay revellers that night, and told Gilbert unregretfully that her card was full when he came to ask her for a dance. 1915, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, Anne of the Island, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, →OCLC:
   • And yet Dick was not altogether indifferent concerning the uniform he wore and the country which he served. After all, it was the land which had bred him; the land which his gay, daring forefathers had won for him, paying lightly and unregretfully with the price of their lives. And this work which he was doing would have appealed to them too. 1913, G. B Lancaster, The Law-bringers, Hodder and Stoughton:
   • After all, in leaving white, he had also left black America—all that he loved and knew. God! he never dreamed how much he loved that soft, brown world which he had so carelessly, so unregretfully cast away. What would he not give to clasp a dark hand now, to hear a soft Southern roll of speech, to kiss a brown cheek? To see warm, brown, crinkly hair and laughing eyes. God—he was lonesome. So utterly, terribly lonesome, And then—he saw the Princess! 1928, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, Dark Princess, Part 1:
   • The approbation of a nature so narrow could hardly have affected her much, one would think, and yet it is plain that she longed for it—she longed, indeed, all her life for such things as she possessed not. She could sacrifice her wishes at all times generously and unregretfully, but she never knew how to bear being denied one of them. 1887, Arabella Jane Duffy, Madame de Staël, Chapter VI:

Forms