Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Feeling regret and sorrow for one's sins or offenses; penitent.
  • adjective Arising from or expressing contrition.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Bruised; worn.
  • Hence—2. Broken in spirit by a sense of guilt; conscience-stricken; humbled; penitent: as, a contrite sinner.
  • Synonyms Repentant, sorrowful. For comparison, see repentance.
  • noun A contrite person; a penitent.
  • To make humble or penitent.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • verb In a contrite manner.
  • noun A contrite person.
  • adjective obsolete Thoroughly bruised or broken.
  • adjective Broken down with grief and penitence; deeply sorrowful for sin because it is displeasing to God; humbly and thoroughly penitent.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Sincerely penitent or feeling regret or sorrow, especially for one’s own actions; apologetic.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English contrit, from Latin contrītus, past participle of conterere, to crush : com-, com- + terere, to grind; see terə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin contritus.

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Examples

Comments

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  • In its Biblical context, this word means 'broken', as in broken down until nothing is left.

    February 14, 2011

  • con-trite: against cliches, for change

    April 27, 2011

  • 'Reuevoll', 'Reuig' TOP 10: 5)

    S: Regretfull, Remorseful, Repentant, Penitent, Sorrowful

    A: Remorseless, Unrepented, Indifferent

    October 25, 2013