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sackcloth

[ sak-klawth, -kloth ]

noun

  1. coarse cloth worn as a sign of mourning or penitence.


sackcloth

/ ˈsækˌklɒθ /

noun

  1. coarse cloth such as sacking
  2. garments made of such cloth, worn formerly to indicate mourning or penitence
  3. sackcloth and ashes
    a public display of extreme grief, remorse, or repentance
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Other Words From

  • sackclothed adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of sackcloth1

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; sack 1, cloth
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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. in sackcloth and ashes, in a state of repentance or sorrow; contrite:

    She would be in sackcloth and ashes for days over every trifling error she made.

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Example Sentences

Why do we don the sackcloth and ashes of the eternal victims?

I have put off the robe of peace, and have put upon me the sackcloth of supplication, and I will cry to the most High in my days.

Don't delude yourself with the notion that she is sitting down in sackcloth and ashes with her past!

And the men of Ninive believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least.

She is known to confess, and is suspected of wearing sackcloth.

But she was expiating it in very sackcloth and ashes, and he would add nothing to the burden on her back.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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sackbutsackcloth and ashes