Regrexit

English

Etymology

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.

Noun

Regrexit (uncountable)

1. (UK politics) A feeling of regret about Brexit taking place, or about having voted for it. [from 24 June 2016.]
   • 2016 June 24, Carl Gardner (@carlgardner), Twitter‎^[1], archived from the original on 2 November 2016:

     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, 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^[2], London, archived from the original on 13 September 2016, subtitle:

     There 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 26, Abhidevananda <[email protected]>, “Re: Brexit”, in uk.philosophy.humanism‎^[3] (Usenet), message-ID <[email protected]>:

     From reports, the UK is moving rapidly from Brexit to Regrexit.

   • 2016 June 27, Adam Taylor, “Bregret? Regrexit? Don't bet on it.”, in The Washington Post‎^[4], archived from the original on 6 October 2016:

     In the spirit of Brexit, these attitudes even have their own media-friendly nickname: Bregret or Regrexit.

   • 2016 June 29, Anna Wallis, “Brexit lessons here”, in Wanganui Chronicle‎^[5]:

     There were many reasons for the Leave vote, and Regrexit is now gaining momentum.

   • 2017, Markus M.L. Crepaz, European Democracies‎^[6], Routledge, →ISBN:

     Within a few days, petitions to re-do the vote emerged with more than four million signatures, known as 'Regrexit.'

   • 2018, Victor O. Okocha, Leadership and Development Crises in Africa: A New Approach to an Old Challenge‎^[7], Dorrance Publishing, →ISBN, page 234:

     There's a chance, especially with the 'Regrexit' sentiment surfacing, that the U.K. will still be part of the EU in two years.

Derived terms

• regrexiteer