why did he feel apologetic
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How to say that you feel apologetic toward someone?
Asked 8 years, 11 months ago
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I'm trying to construct a sentence in which the speaker 'feels apologetic' toward someone. I want to avoid hinting at a sense of guilt or shame etc so that rules out 'I felt contrite/ rueful/ regretful/ remorseful/ repentant/ guilty' and similar sentences.
The context where I want to use this is:
However, no matter how much heart he had put into it I could not possibly hand out those paper bundles to the readers. I showed him the booklet I had brought with me. I had put in hours of painstaking effort in arranging the entire content myself. His eyes grew wide as he turned over the pages one by one, and I felt apologetic toward him.
Here's what I thought of:
I felt bad for him.
I felt sorry for him.
But these sentences imply 'pity/empathy' which is not what I aiming for.
The sentence I came up with finally is:
I felt apologetic toward him.
But I've never heard anyone speak this way. Is this idiomatically correct? Or is there a better way of saying this?
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edited Jun 16, 2020 at 9:11
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CommunityBot
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asked Jun 4, 2013 at 6:38
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Soulz
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If you could provide a context or a story, it would make it easier to find an appropriate phrase. –
Xantix
Jun 4, 2013 at 6:57
@Xantix I have updated my post with the content. –
Soulz
Jun 4, 2013 at 7:39
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@ Soulz: I've just posted my answer, but now I read the question more carefully, I'm confused. If you don't feel sorry for the person, and you don't feel guilty either, I don't understand what [emotional?] reaction you're trying to convey. –
FumbleFingers
Jun 4, 2013 at 16:51
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So, the situation is that both person A and person B have brought things to hand out, and both have spent hours on those things, not knowing the other was also doing it; and person B's handouts are clearly superior to person A's?
Then at this point where Person B sees person A realizing that A's efforts are completely overshadowed, B is feeling that it is unfortunate that A wasted all that time doing something that turns out fruitless. Either there is empathy involved (B feels bad because he knows that A feels bad) or there is not (B merely regrets the lost opportunity to have A be doing something useful, or B is happy to outshine A).