sackcloth and ashes

1. Mourning or penitence, as in What I did to Julie's child was terrible, and I've been in sackcloth and ashes ever since. This term refers to the ancient Hebrew custom of indicating humility before God by wearing a coarse cloth, normally used to make sacks, and dusting oneself with ashes. In English it appeared in William Tyndale's 1526 biblical translations (Matthew 11:21), “They [the cities Tyre and Sidon] had repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”

Example Sentences

I would absolutely beg on my hands and knees in the Senate chamber or anywhere else, in sackcloth and ashes and on broken glass, if I thought it would help.

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The source added that the EU wasn't in "sackcloth and ashes" after it temporarily suspended agreements made as part of the Brexit deal last Friday.

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Saying that he remained confident that Mr. Biden would ultimately win the presidency, he joked, “I am wearing sackcloth and ashes.”

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Why not mandate Stitch Fix-style deliveries of sackcloth and ashes so that we may know that these people are truly humbled?

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In recalling such a sordid piece of news—now twenty years old today—I’m still left feeling what I did two decades ago when this story first broke: sackcloth and ashes.

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Related Words

• absolution 
• atonement 
• contrition 
• forgiveness 
• penitence 
• remorse 
• repentance 
• retribution