Penitent vs Regretful - What's the difference?
penitent | regretful |
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.
Full of feelings of regret, indulging in regrets.
Sorrowful about what has been lost or done.
As adjectives the difference between penitent and regretful
is that penitent is penitent while regretful is full of feelings of regret, indulging in regrets.As a noun penitent
is penitent.penitent
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!