惜(お)しい

おしい
i-adjective
regrettable, close
Conjugation
AffirmativeNegative
Present惜(お)しい惜(お)しくない
Past惜(お)しかった惜(お)しくなかった
て form惜(お)しくて惜(お)しくなくて
Adverbial惜(お)しく—
Conditional ば惜(お)しければ惜(お)しくなければ
Conditional たら惜(お)しかったら惜(お)しくなかったら
1. regrettable, unfortunate, a shame
Used when something valuable is wasted or lost, or when a good opportunity is missed.
時間(じかん)が惜(お)しい。
Time is precious. / I don't want to waste time.
あんな才能(さいのう)を無駄(むだ)にするのは惜(お)しい。
It's a shame to waste such talent.
若(わか)くして亡(な)くなったのは惜(お)しい。
It's regrettable that they passed away so young.
2. close, almost
Used when someone nearly succeeds at something but falls short.
惜(お)しい！もう少(すこ)しだった。
So close! You almost had it.
答(こた)えは惜(お)しかったけど、間違(まちが)いだ。
The answer was close, but wrong.
あと一点(いってん)で優勝(ゆうしょう)だったのに、惜(お)しかった。
We were just one point away from winning - so close.

惜(お)しい is an i-adjective with two related meanings: feeling regret about waste/loss, and being tantalizingly close to success.

SENSE 1 — REGRETTABLE:
Expresses that something valuable is being wasted or lost, or that a loss is lamentable.

SENSE 2 — SO CLOSE:
Used when someone nearly succeeds but falls short.

  • 惜(お)しい！: So close! (exclamation in sports/games)
  • 惜(お)しくも負(ま)けた: lost by a narrow margin
  • あと少(すこ)しで惜(お)しかった: it was so close, just a little more

Forms

  • Adverbial: 惜(お)しくも (regrettably, so close)
  • Noun form: 惜(お)しさ (the feeling of regret/closeness)

Related Words

Related: 惜(お)しむ (to regret, to be reluctant to part with, to begrudge, to spare)
general
Added 2026.2.5 23:54 · Revised 2026.9.2 13:01
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