Warm regards meaning: friendly good wishes

Warm regards means friendly good wishes. Use it for people you've met or worked with, and for anyone you want to thank. It's a step warmer than best regards, and still fine in a work email.

Last updated Oct 12 2026

Gwen signs off with warm regards to clients she's met and plain regards to everyone else.

What did they mean?

Filed under U to Z jargon.

The friendly end of the regards scale

Good wishes from someone you know

Warm regards is a friendly way to end an email. It tells the reader you like them, or that the two of you have at least met.

One dictionary lists kind regards and plain regards as synonyms. In an inbox both sound cooler, because neither one says warm.

Of the sign-offs ending in regards in our plain-English jargon dictionary, warm regards is the friendliest.

Warm regards against best and kind

Warm regards is warmer than best regards or kind regards, so keep it for people you know. Here it is next to four other common email sign-offs.

Sign-off	How it reads
Best regards	The default, safe for anyone
Kind regards	Polite and slightly formal
Warm regards	Personal
All the best	Goodwill plus luck, usually on the way out
Cheers	Casual, for people you know, on a busier day

Warmest regards and other upgrades

Warmest regards is one notch warmer. It suits old friends and retirement cards. Warm wishes drops the regards altogether and sounds like the inside of a greeting card.

Each step up is fine with someone you know well. With someone you don’t, it’s a little much.

Where warm regards belongs

Thank-yous, births and condolences

Warm regards suits thank-you notes, birth announcements and condolences. The US Navy’s correspondence manual suggests it for all three.

For everyone else, the same manual names sincerely or all the best. Very respectfully is for a flag officer who outranks the person signing.

Warm regards after a loss

When a colleague loses someone, a short note signed warm regards or “With sympathy” says enough. Leave the work questions for another week.

Sixth in the friendliness vote

1,000 UK workers voted on the friendliest ways to close an email, and warm regards came sixth.

Closing	Place in the vote
Cheers	Fourth
All the best	Seventh
Best regards	Ninth
Kind regards	Didn’t place

When warm regards misfires

Warmth on a cold email

After a hostile paragraph, a friendly closing like warm regards makes the hostility worse. One list of email phrases that make people want to scream put warm regards at number ten, tied with kind regards.

If the email is a complaint, sign it with best regards. Then calm down the paragraph above it with our guide to how to professionally say the blunt parts.

Warm regards from a stranger

In a first cold email, warm regards stands out for the wrong reason. You’ve never met the sender, so there’s no relationship for the warmth to come from. On a mass mailing with your first name merged in, it has the warmth of a spreadsheet.

Warmth that stops

A switch from warm regards to plain regards tells the reader something has changed. If a colleague has signed warm regards for a year and then switches, everyone copied in will spot the drop. Nobody will mention it.

Warm regards on a thank-you email

Subject: Thank you for Thursday
Hi Sam, thank you for taking the Hartley call while I was out sick. The client wrote this morning to say it was the clearest update they’ve had all year. Coffee is on me next week.
~~Warm regards~~ Owe you one, Lena

Warm regards in a sentence

Gwen signs off with warm regards to clients she's met and plain regards to everyone else.
Signing a cold sales email with warm regards to someone you've never met, Ola, reads a bit odd.
After the merger, every email from the new owners ends with warm regards, Pieter, even the layoff ones.
Lovely to meet you at the trade fair, Ines. Warm regards, and the samples will go out Monday.

Questions about warm regards

Is it appropriate to say warm regards?

Yes, with someone you've met, thanked or worked with. In a first email to a stranger, or at the bottom of a complaint, it can sound fake, so best regards is the safer choice there.

What is another way to say "warm regards"?

Warmest regards, many thanks, all the best or with best wishes. For a colleague you know well, "Thanks again" or "See you Thursday" is warmer than any of them.

What does warm regards mean?

Friendly good wishes at the end of an email, for a person you already know. It sounds more personal than best regards and is still polite enough for work.

What are some warm email closings?

Warm regards, warmest regards, all the best, best wishes and many thanks. When UK workers voted on the friendliest closings, "have a great day" came first, ahead of many thanks and best wishes.

What's the difference between warm regards and kind regards?

Warmth. Warm regards is personal and suits someone you've met or thanked, while kind regards is polite and a little formal. When you aren't sure how well you know the reader, kind regards is the safer pick.

Sources

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