What's the difference between contrite and trite?

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.

Trite


Definition:

  • (a.) Worn out; common; used until so common as to have lost novelty and interest; hackneyed; stale; as, a trite remark; a trite subject.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Berg sat with Leija on Thursday evening, learning to sing Chris Medina's What Are Words, which includes lyrics that could be considered unbearably trite were they not now so fitting: "And I know an angel was sent just for me, And I know I'm meant to be where I am, And I'm gonna be, Standing right beside her tonight."
  • (2) "That might sound trite, but it does feel that way.
  • (3) Giles Oakley London • In conception and format, it was trite – while being undeservedly pompous and self-esteeming.
  • (4) It sounds trite now, but I was born in '58, so when I was seven or eight the city [of Liverpool] was awash with music.
  • (5) Inside that trite sentence, “We need to figure out how to make this work for everyone,” hides the skeleton of a monster.
  • (6) The three-day Baltimore retreat exposed discord within the ranks, but largely the same leadership espoused trite slogans that long predated Trump.
  • (7) Although it might seem trite to point out that tissue sampling is a potential source of experimental error, this survey disclosed that even experienced investigators in fact often work with cartilage that is contaminated by non-cartilaginous tissue of which they were unaware.
  • (8) I should, by rights, have produced a 300-word listicle containing trite, observational humour about self-service checkouts, but disappointingly, Buzzfeed got there first .
  • (9) A case in point is The Black Eyed Peas song Where Is The Love?, which when heard on the radio can seem a bit trite in its appeal for pan-global understanding, but in this context chimed perfectly with the need for clear, emphatic statements following trauma.
  • (10) The guest list pass from the 3rdeyegirl gig is still stuck fast to the inside of my jacket To say Prince was a rare figure, even in the glorified secure unit that is pop, is a little trite.
  • (11) Over the past few years of recession and regression, it has become a trite truism of European politics that you can't go wrong going to the right.
  • (12) These relations are in reality, not just as a trite phrase, a potential "win-win situation".
  • (13) I also wanted to slightly complicate rather than clarify the Nick situation because it’s so easy to come up with trite answers – that he came from a stuffy, upper-middle-class background, nobody understood him.
  • (14) To say it is a victory for hope may sound trite and cliched, but it is really the only explanation for what has occurred.
  • (15) In the case of Podemos, repeatedly attacking la casta (the elites) may seem simple or trite on paper, as some have argued, but expressing your disavowal in the context of Spain’s domination by a corrupt, unreformable “regime of 78” (the year of the post-Franco constitution) which is in thrall to the troika and their friends in the bailed-out banks, as well as 40 years of Francoist patriarchy before that, becomes potentially transcendent.
  • (16) "It is just not good enough to give a trite phrase saying we will learn lessons if you don't learn the lessons and if you don't make sure on a regular basis that the lessons have filtered down to your officers.
  • (17) He told the BBC: "I wasn't having a go at multiculturalism itself, I was having a go at the rather trite way, frankly, it was represented in the opening ceremony.
  • (18) For whose benefit are those early Sunday morning photos of piles of finished marking accompanied by a trite, self-congratulatory message?
  • (19) I have read it three times to satisfy myself that there is nothing trivial, trite or ridiculous about it.
  • (20) Inside that trite sentence, 'We need to figure out how to make this work for everyone,' hides the skeleton of a monster I disagree that the old way is better.