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Word of the Day Archive
Wednesday May 7, 2008

contrite \KON-tryt; kuhn-TRYT\, adjective:
1. Deeply affected with grief and regret for having done wrong; penitent; as, "a contrite sinner."
2. Expressing or arising from contrition; as, "contrite words."

Contrite sinners forgiven, yes.
-- Richard de Mille, My Secret Mother

Within days, a contrite Clarence Arthur was sending her roses and violets, even a bad poem.
-- Paul Mariani, The Broken Tower

Often he'd look contrite and even apologize.
-- Rafer Johnson with Philip Goldberg, The Best That I Can Be

Contrite derives from Latin conterere, "to rub away, to grind," hence "to obliterate, to abase," from con- + terere, "to rub, to rub away."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for contrite

 

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