Contrite vs Penitent - What's the difference?
contrite | penitent |
Sincerely penitent or feeling regret or sorrow, especially for one’s own actions; apologetic.
* '>citation
* '>citation
(obsolete) Thoroughly bruised or broken.
Feeling pain or sorrow on account of sins or offenses; repentant; contrite; sincerely affected by a sense of guilt, and resolved on amendment of life.
* 1838 , , (The Anatomy of Melancholy) , B. Blake, p.730,
* Milton
Doing penance.
One who repents of sin; one sorrowful on account of his or her transgressions.
One under church censure, but admitted to penance; one undergoing penance.
* 1837 , William Russell, The History of Modern Europe: with an Account of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , Longman, Rees, & Co., page 20,
One under the direction of a confessor.
Penitent is a synonym of contrite.
As adjectives the difference between contrite and penitent
is that contrite is sincerely penitent or feeling regret or sorrow, especially for one’s own actions; apologetic while penitent is feeling pain or sorrow on account of sins or offenses; repentant; contrite; sincerely affected by a sense of guilt, and resolved on amendment of life.As nouns the difference between contrite and penitent
is that contrite is a contrite person; a penitent while penitent is one who repents of sin; one sorrowful on account of his or her transgressions.contrite
English
Adjective
(en adjective)Antonyms
* attriteSynonyms
* See also * apologeticDerived terms
* contritely * contritenesspenitent
English
Alternative forms
* (archaic) * (qualifier)Adjective
(en adjective)- If thou be penitent and grieved, or desirous to be so, these heinous sins shall not be laid to thy charge.
- Be penitent , and for thy fault contrite.
- (Shakespeare)
Synonyms
* See alsoNoun
(en noun)- Wamba, who defeated the Saracens in an attempt upon Spain, was deprived of the crown, because he had been clothed in the habit of a penitent , while labouring under the influence of poison, administered by the ambitious Erviga!