Meanings
- UKuncountablegovernmentA feeling of regret about Brexit taking place, or about having voted for it.First known use 24 June 2016.
Near-synonym: Bregret
5 more examples
Labour has one chance now. To emerge within weeks as Britain's centrist "Regrexit Unionist" party. If it did that, even I might forgive it.
2016 June 24, Carl Gardner (@carlgardner), Twitter, archived from the original on 02 Nov 2016There are leave voters who confessed to reporters that they never thought their side would actually win, that their vote had only ever been intended as a protest, presumed to be safe because surely everyone else would vote the other way. […] A Twitter user came up with a new coinage for this rapid form of buyer's remorse: Regrexit. […] When some of those leave voters see that Brexit has not brought back the good jobs of old, that housing is still in desperately short supply and that a migrant family still lives round the corner, the Regrexit sentiment will grow.
2016 June 24, Jonathan Freedland, “For the 48%, this was a day of despair: Soon we will become little Britain. The signs of Regrexit are cold comfort for those of us who voted to remain.”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 13 Sep 2016, subtitleFrom reports, the UK is moving rapidly from Brexit to Regrexit.
2016 June 26, Abhidevananda <abhide...@sarkarverse.org>, “Re: Brexit”, in uk.philosophy.humanism (Usenet), message-ID <t9ybz.34812$LR2.4319@fx26.fr7>In the spirit of Brexit, these attitudes even have their own media-friendly nickname: Bregret or Regrexit.
2016 June 27, Adam Taylor, “Bregret? Regrexit? Don't bet on it.”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 06 Oct 2016There were many reasons for the Leave vote, and Regrexit is now gaining momentum.
2016 June 29, Anna Wallis, “Brexit lessons here”, in Wanganui Chronicle, archived from the original on 12 Jul 2016Synonyms: Bregret
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA feeling of regret about Brexit taking place, or about having voted for it.
Origin
- Proto-Italic*wre-
- Latinre-
- Old Frenchre-
- Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰreh₁d-
- Proto-Germanic*grētaną
- Frankish*grātan
- Old French*greter
- Old Frenchregreter
- Middle Englishregretten
- Englishregret
- Ancient GreekΒρεττᾰνός (Brettănós)
- Ancient GreekΒρεττανία (Brettanía)
- LatinBritannia
- Anglo-NormanBritaine
- Middle EnglishBritayne
- EnglishBritain
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰ
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰs
- Proto-Italic*eks
- Latinex
- Latinex-
- Latineō
- Latinexeō
- Latinexitus
- Middle Englishexit
- Englishexit
- EnglishBrexit
- EnglishRegrexit
Blend of regret + Brexit, said to have been coined on 24 June 2016 by one Carl Gardner in a Twitter post (see quotations) following the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum on 23 June 2016.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with Regrexit
Cite this entry
Regrexit. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Regrexit
“Regrexit.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Regrexit. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Regrexit,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Regrexit.
Source: Regrexit on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.