What's the difference between contrite and regretful?

Contrite


Definition:

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

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This sends the dangerous message that the citizens of the debtor countries need to suffer badly to signal their contrition.
  • (2) "I take complete responsibility and offer nothing but love and contrition and I hope that now Jonathan and the BBC will endure less forensic wrath.
  • (3) Ken Livingstone has delivered a rare public display of contrition, following a backlash over leaked remarks made by him in a private meeting which were interpreted as saying that Jewish voters would not vote for him because they were rich.
  • (4) It's no surprise, then, that displays of contrition over his defeat by Boris Johnson in 2008 have not been a feature of the start of his campaign to take back the mayoralty in 2012.
  • (5) With Oldham Athletic pulling out of a deal to sign the player in the face of pressure from the public and sponsors, Evans’s statement via the Professional Footballers’ Association marks his first act of contrition towards the victim since he walked from prison on licence 83 days ago.
  • (6) It's the first interview he's done since his marriage and divorce and the split-up of the Ordinary Boys, and it all comes rushing out in a spate, a tangle of chronological confusions and jokes, and groans when I quote some of his old interviews back at him, and statements of contrition, and digressions about Dawkins or whatever, and here's the confounding thing - he's really nothing like I was expecting, not indie-boy sulky, or attempting to play it cool, he's just talkative and engaging, and he has a sense of humour about himself that, from reading his previous interviews, I wouldn't have even guessed at.
  • (7) The quartet wrestles its way to the end of Shostakovich's unquiet masterpiece, the reprised Largo with its complex contrition and very adult fears.
  • (8) "He was an unreliable witness and showed little contrition by pointing the finger at many of his former executives.
  • (9) 'Show contrition' said George Osborne's notes – but what did that mean?
  • (10) But Lind will have to decide whether she believes Manning is really contrite, and not merely apologising as a pragmatic bid for a shorter sentence.
  • (11) [Modi's] lack of contrition is outweighed by his rising profile as a possible ministerial candidate.
  • (12) So would anyone looking for an expression of contrition or regret.
  • (13) In a statement that contained little contrition for putting investors, staff and customers through a fruitless two weeks, Duch-Pedersen insisted that shareholders were continuing to "express their overwhelming support for the standalone G4S business and its management".
  • (14) Labour's Margaret Hodge , chair of the public accounts committee said Barlow "might want to show a bit of contrition by giving back his OBE".
  • (15) But Burnham, who has been publicly contrite about the frontbench’s ill-judged refusal to vote against the second reading of the government’s welfare bill at the start of the summer, could now reach out to the left by campaigning vigorously against this legislation.
  • (16) Any settlement should include a formal apology, but contrition alone would not be enough, he said.
  • (17) Donald Trump, on his Republican critics Whether Trump will be capable of showing genuine contrition when he faces Hillary Clinton on the debate stage at Washington University in St Louis on Sunday night remains in doubt.
  • (18) You can see when you speak to him how sorry he is about it and he's certainly shown quite a lot of contrition to us and as part of that, he's also asked we donate the fine to the Hillsborough Family Support Group.
  • (19) Hari is also handing back the George Orwell prize he won as "an act of contrition for the errors I made elsewhere, in my interviews" and will undertake "a programme of journalism training" during his leave of absence.
  • (20) "Despite some of the ways in which things come out as arrogant there are people at the top who are contrite and want to do the right thing," he said.

Regretful


Definition:

  • (a.) Full of regret; indulging in regrets; repining.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "We absolutely regret the setbacks Kim Dotcom has had since MegaUpload was taken offline, but we hope he as an entrepreneur will understand our side of the story and the decisions deliberately taken."
  • (2) Whilst we deeply regret all these incidents and acknowledge that the care of these patients could have been better, this is a relatively low number of incidents for a hospital of this size,” it said in a statement.
  • (3) The local MP, Rory Stewart, a mover and shaker on the broadband project, told me that he was desperate to get telehealth into Cumbria, but regretfully felt that it was not immediately doable, because the local council and healthcare community did not yet have the necessary expertise.
  • (4) An innovative approach to treatment planning is described in which a planned dose distribution is evaluated in terms of prescribed limits of acceptability, and any discrepancies (referred to as "regions of regret") are displayed in the form of a contour diagram in which colors are used to represent different types and degrees of regret.
  • (5) The allegations come weeks after Top Gear executives expressed regret over a remark made by Clarkson on the show's Burma special, broadcast in March.
  • (6) We deeply regret any instance which led to the Financial Ombudsman Service receiving incorrect or incomplete information from us.” Clydesdale is now reviewing all PPI complaints handled before August 2014 and will pay redress to any affected customers.
  • (7) The other example is of a woman who had a child who died at the age of 10 and expressed no regrets, but when questioned about whether she would have continued a pregnancy knowingly aware the baby would die in 10 years, the woman replied that she could not imagine how anyone could be so strong as to bear a child knowing the brevity of its life.
  • (8) She insists she has no regrets about dedicating herself to the man millions admired but few really got to know.
  • (9) Of the 28 parents who did not see the body, 17 subsequently stated their regret.
  • (10) In the prime minister's reply, he said it was with "enormous regret that I accept your resignation as the member of parliament for Corby and East Northamptonshire, a seat that had been Labour for 13 years before you.
  • (11) "We regret that Congress was forced to waste its time voting on a foolish bill that was premised entirely on false claims and ignorance," David Jenkins, an REP official, said in a statement.
  • (12) "We regret this decision by the Russian government," a senior Obama administration official said.
  • (13) These cases may represent a small percentage of the many sterilization operations that are performed each year, yet the fact that tubal sterilization is performed primarily on fit young women for "nonmedical" reasons makes it all the more important that women who will come to regret the procedure are identified and advised against it.
  • (14) "I regret that these things which are speculative and are not signed off on should be the source of discussion in other quarters."
  • (15) A woman accused of being the only surviving member of a murderous German neo-Nazi cell that remained undetected for over a decade, has broken her silence for the first time telling a court she was not involved in the planning or carrying out of the attacks but that she regretted failing to prevent them.
  • (16) "There was clearly inappropriate behaviour by some of the other guests and I deeply regret that this happened.
  • (17) The pair’s barrister, Charanjit Jutla, said both men were of good character and deeply regretted their conduct.
  • (18) He pointed out that Labour had not introduced such a radical examination in 1997, something he now regretted.
  • (19) Stewart surely sees himself as a ­future minister, though he regrets telling one journalist he wanted to be.
  • (20) Rupert Murdoch has said he regrets that his papers have turned against prime minister Gordon Brown – but believes they are right to do so.