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A person who is contrite may have rubbed someone the wrong way and caused bruised feelings—and there is a hint about the origins of the word in that thought. Contrite came to English by way of Anglo-French from the Latin verb conterere, meaning "to grind" or "to bruise." Conterere, in turn, was formed by combining the prefix com-, meaning "with" or "together," and terere, "to rub." If you've guessed that trite is a cousin of contrite (through terere), you are correct. Other terere descendants in English include detriment and very possibly the familiar verb try.

Examples of contrite in a Sentence

Allbaugh apologized, though it was clear he was hardly contrite. — Christopher Cooper &Robert Block, Disaster, 2006 … Teddy was immediately contrite. "That was stupid of me. Forgive me." — Jack Higgins, The President's Daughter, 1998 At the airport, the meter registers nine pounds, and of course he had said six or seven. I have a sense now of his feeling somewhat contrite, or perhaps only abashed. — Renata Adler, Pitch Dark, 1983 … for days afterward, afraid of himself and worried about his sanity, he would be contrite and terribly ashamed. — John Nichols, The Milagro Beanfield War, 1974 being contrite is not enough to spare you an arrest if you're caught shoplifting

Recent Examples on the Web In the Financial Times interview, Neumann is reflective though not contrite. — Walter Frick, Quartz, 20 Mar. 2022 But Zucker appeared to be neither surprised nor contrite. — Tatiana Siegel, Rolling Stone, 11 Mar. 2022 Google executives disclosed the removal of the app in an internal email whose contrite tone suggests that the decision was not popular with some employees. — Washington Post, 10 Mar. 2022 In August 2020, after an independent review of the allegations against Philbert, Schlissel was contrite in a statement to the Michigan community. — Nick Anderson, Anchorage Daily News, 16 Jan. 2022 After facing public backlash, Mr. Johnson, who had previously not admitted his presence at the gathering, issued a contrite apology for attending the event. — Mark Landler, New York Times, 14 Jan. 2022 By October, a newly semi-contrite HFPA added 21 new members with immediate voting rights; six are Black, six are Latinx, five are Asian, four are Middle Eastern/North African, and 10 are women. — Ellen Mcgirt, Fortune, 11 Jan. 2022 The next year, a contrite Springer made a remarkable comeback and all was forgiven as voters sent him back to council. — Jeff Suess, The Enquirer, 31 Oct. 2021 The defendant struck a more contrite tone in his comments during the hearing on Thursday. — Marshall Cohen, CNN, 28 Oct. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'contrite.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.