Regarded

How to spell regarded

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce regarded

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does regarded mean?

1. verbThought of or judged something or someone in a particular way; held a certain opinion of.
2. verbLooked at someone or something steadily and attentively.

Regarded in a sentence

• The board regarded the merger as a sensible long-term move.

• She regarded the strange document with deep suspicion.

• Colleagues always regarded her as the most reliable member of the team.

• He regarded the broken engine for a moment before reaching for his tools.

Where does regarded come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the past form of the verb 'regard', which English took from the Old French regarder, meaning 'to look at' or 'to take notice of'. That verb was built from the prefix re-, used here as an intensifier, and garder, meaning 'to guard, watch over, or heed'. The garder element is ultimately of Germanic origin and is a close cousin of the English words 'guard' and 'ward', all tracing back to the idea of watching and protecting. When the word entered English in the 1300s it carried the literal sense of casting one's eyes on something, and from that physical act of looking grew the figurative meanings of paying attention to, esteeming, and forming an opinion about a thing. The shared root is a handy spelling reminder: the 'gard' in regarded is the same 'gard' you can hear in guard.

How the word is built

• re- (intensive/back)
• gard (look, heed)
• -ed (past tense suffix)