What is the difference between regret and remorse?
Regret describes emotions ranging from being disappointed to intense sorrow due mainly to an external circumstance or event. An example is: She regrets that the television show has been canceled. One can also regret a wrong done, as in: He regrets his mistakes. Remorse describes deep regret, involving anguish or guilt and self-reproach or repentance. Remorse is felt by someone for a sin or wrong they have committed. So: He felt remorse for lying to the teacher. Remorse is from the Latin remordere ‘to bite again’ – as remorse is a gnawing feeling of guilt from a past wrong. Regret is from the French regreter/regrater and originally was a synonym for regrate meaning ‘complaint, lament’.
