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Definition
feeling sorrow or regret for a fault or offenseThe expression, an act of contrition, refers to a prayer or other action taken due to a feeling of regret at having done wrong.
- She apologized, but didn't seem genuinely contrite.
contrite = feeling sorrow or regret for a fault or offense
- Even after the jury found her guilty, she showed no sign of contrition.
- "I'm awfully sorry I made fun of your hair, Anne," he whispered contritely.Lucy Maud Montgomery -- Anne Of Green Gables
- "It was my fault," Rocher said, stepping forward, sounding contrite.Dan Brown -- Angels & Demons
- ...your evident contrition, and sense of shame; all lead me to believe that you might yet be reclaimed.Charles Dickens -- Oliver Twist
- Instead of hating you I could, I think, mourn for and pity you, if you were contrite, and would confess all.Thomas Hardy -- The Return of the Native
- Alas! my very dear brother, I should like to settle down to a better life. I come to you full of contrition, I am penitent. I make my confession.Victor Hugo -- The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Perhaps she too would have reacted like her mother, unable to restrain the impulse to scold until the child acted beaten and contrite.Amy Tan -- The Bonesetter's Daughter
- He smiled, looking contrite, a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar.Nicholas Sparks -- The Guardian
- ...the tender sadness of a contrite heart, broken, at last, beneath its own weight of sin?Nathaniel Hawthorne -- The House of the Seven Gables
- Not once in the course of these proceedings did this man show the least contrition.Albert Camus -- The Stranger
- Therefore, sire, your Majesty sees that they are come, quite contrite and repentant, to offer you their excuses.Alexandre Dumas -- The Three Musketeers
- Contrition is the heavy and grievous sorrow that a man receiveth in his heart for his sins,Geoffrey Chaucer -- The Canterbury Tales
- he didn't look contrite or guilty,Olive Ann Burns -- Cold Sassy Tree
- I glare at Peeta and he tries to look contrite.Suzanne Collins -- Catching Fire
- Kate looked at the sand, contrite, and I almost regretted my sharpness.Kenneth Oppel -- Airborn
- Aureliano scolded him like a child and he adopted a contrite air.Gabriel Garcia Marquez -- One Hundred Years of Solitude
- He dipped his head and tried to look contrite.Christopher Paolini -- Eragon
- Contrite, he copped a plea to a single felony count and ... began serving a four-month sentence in Sioux Falls.Jon Krakauer -- Into the Wild
- For what it was worth, he seemed genuinely contrite.Nicholas Sparks -- The Last Song
contrition = sorrow or regret for a fault or offense
contritely = with a feeling sorrow or regret for having done something wrong
contrite = feeling regret for a fault or offense
contrition = sorrow or regret for a fault or offense
contrite = feeling sorrow or regret (for a fault or offense)
contrition = sorrow or regret for a fault or offense
contrite = sorry (feeling sorrow or regret for a fault or offense)
contrite = feeling sorrow or regret for a fault or offense
contrite = feeling sorrow or regret for a fault or offense
contrition = sorrow or regret for a fault or offense
contrite = sorry for a fault
contrition = sorrow or regret for a fault or offense
contrite = feeling sorrow or regret for a fault or offense
contrite = sorry for his offense
contrite = feeling sorrow or regret for a fault or offense
contrite = feeling sorrow or regret for a fault or offense
contrite = sorrowful for a fault or offense
contrite = feeling sorrow or regret for an offense
contrite = sorry for a fault or offense