Adjacent Words

Contrition definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CONTRITION, n. [L.]
1. The act of grinding or rubbing to powder.
2. Penitence; deep sorrow for sin; grief of heart for having offended and infinitely holy and benevolent God. The word is usually understood to mean genuine penitence, accompanied with a deep sense of ingratitude in the sinner, and sincere resolution to live in obedience to the divine law.
Fruits of more pleasing savor, from thy seed sown with contrition in his heart.
Imperfect repentance is by some divines called attrition.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: sorrow for sin arising from fear of damnation [syn: attrition, contrition, contriteness]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 14th century the state of being contrite ; repentance Synonyms: see penitence

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. the state of being contrite; thorough penitence. Etymology: ME f. OF f. LL contritio -onis (as CONTRITE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Contrition Con*tri"tion, n. [F. contrition, L. contritio.] 1. The act of grinding or ribbing to powder; attrition; friction; rubbing. [Obs.] The breaking of their parts into less parts by contrition. --Sir I. Newton. 2. The state of being contrite; deep sorrow and repentance for sin, because sin is displeasing to God; humble penitence; through repentance. My future days shall be one whole contrition. --Dryden. Syn: repentance; penitence; humiliation; compunction; self-reproach; remorse. Usage: Contrition, Attrition, repentance. -- Contrition is deep sorrow and self-condemnation, with through repetance for sin because it is displeasing to God, and implies a feeling of love toward God. Attrition is sorrow for sin, or imperfect repentance produced by fear of punishment or a sense of the baseness of sin. Repentance is a penitent renunciation of, and turning from, sin; thorough repentance produces a new life. Repentance is often used as synonymous with contrition. See Compunction.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Penitence, compunction, remorse, repentance, sorrow, regret, self-condemnation, self-reproach, stings of conscience, sorrow for sin.

Moby Thesaurus

abject apology, acknowledgment, apologies, apology, attrition, ayenbite of inwit, bitterness, breast-beating, compunction, confession, contriteness, excuse, grief, mea culpa, penance, penitence, penitently, regret, regretfulness, regrets, regretting, remorse, remorse of conscience, remorsefulness, repentance, repining, rue, ruth, shame, shamefacedness, shamefastness, shamefulness, sorriness, sorrow, wistfulness