(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.
Rueful
Definition:
(a.) Causing one to rue or lament; woeful; mournful; sorrowful.
(a.) Expressing sorrow.
Example Sentences:
(1) There was always a rueful melancholy, stiffened by irony and leavened by humour about him.
(2) All subcultures have their references, which for insiders carry a complex set of feelings: the comfort of belonging and shutting out outsiders, mixed with a rueful, ironic self-awareness.
(3) She was characterised by her very specific sense of failure, which was rueful but nonchalant at the same time: Pearson's iconic image had Kate Reddy smashing up shop-bought mince pies to make them look as though she'd made them herself.
(4) Seven Oscar failures was a rueful glory he shared for a while with his old pal, Richard Burton.
(5) Yet as news filtered through from White Hart Lane that Gareth Bale had finally scored for Tottenham, Wenger - who offered Jack Wilshere a late cameo -looked rueful when Walcott's shot rebounded benignly off a post and relieved as Olivier Giroud made a surprisingly effective tackle to deny Ben Arfa.
(6) "You never say never to a warrior like him," said a rueful colleague, but against a lacklustre mayor and unpopular government, a heavy hitter with less baggage might have done better.
(7) Garde looked rueful but resigned, though the FA Cup is not the biggest battle last year’s runners-up face this season, and everyone seemed to know it.
(8) To be honest I feel rather self-conscious about my size,” Tshabalala told me with a rueful smile.
(9) It's a rueful acknowledgement of human frailty and opposition talent - eg.
(10) It is his film in disguise, the one that got away; a rueful critique of an oppressive regime and a heartfelt salute to the creative impulse that will not be quashed.
(11) Grimes took the stage for her concession speech with a rueful look and as much emotion as she showed on the campaign trail, thanking her family, the other Democratic politicians who stumped for her, her staff and her supporters.
(12) In the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice , his joke about his wife not accompanying his daughters to meet Mr Bingley lest he "like you the best of the party" has a hint of ruefulness.
(13) Written by Tim Firth and directed by Daniel Evans, it’s a rueful, magical look at the pleasures and perils of family life.
(14) You have to get out there and earn it and that’s what I’m trying to do.” On a rueful note, she added: “If I had to do it again, I would have used a separate email account.
(15) And here is the twist: in the last of the conventionally numbered chapters we find out that our hero (brave, rueful, suffering) is not the man we thought he was.
(16) He gave a rueful smile and replied: “I think enjoy is the wrong word.
(17) "Nobody knew about The Artist until it appeared in Cannes," he recalls, with a reflex ruefulness.
(18) At another point there is the rueful admission: “But perhaps I am now too dangerous to associate with!” Mostly it is more tiresome than dangerous.
(19) Some people who know the work will go, ‘hang on’, but generally speaking it’s the same people doing fairly much the same stuff.” The rueful smile again.
(20) Each team retained its pride and the visitors can be content with a stalemate on hostile terrain but Sir Alex Ferguson may be rueful that Chelsea have eased four points clear of them.