Synonyms for remorse
Most common
guilt repentance contrition penitence grief sorrow compunction sorriness
Synonyms by meaning
Noun
1. Penitence — A feeling of regret or sadness for doing wrong or sinning
penitence, repentance, contrition, guilt, attrition, agenbite
2. Sorrow — sorrow; pity; compassion
sorrow, grief, compassion, pity, sympathy, misery, unhappiness, woe, sadness, dejection, distress, melancholy, wretchedness, commiseration, regret dated, ruth dated, rue dated
3. Compunction
Other
Definitions
- n. 1
A feeling of regret or sadness for doing wrong or sinning.
The accused committed perjury without remorse.
- n. 2
Sorrow; pity; compassion.
Related words
- Word family
- remorseless remorseful remorsefully remorselessly
- Phrases
- buyer's remorse
- Is a kind of
- sadness regret
Forms
- Plural
- remorses → penitences, repentances, contritions, guilts…
Choose the right word
Remorse is, as its derivation indicates, a biting or gnawing back of guilt upon the heart, with no turning of heart from the sin, and no suggestion of divine forgiveness.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- guilt The fingerprints on the knife attest to her guilt.
- repentance His face expresses deep sorrow and repentance.
- contrition I have come to you in great contrition to atone for my sin.
- penitence They demanded public penitence from me.
- grief There are five stages of grief. Stage one: denial.
- sorrow To my sorrow, my father cannot attend the meeting.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| remorse | rising | |
| guilt | rising | |
| repentance | rising | |
| contrition | rising | |
| penitence | rising | |
| grief | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- rue1, woe1
- 4 letters
- pity2, ruth1
- 5 letters
- guilt1, grief1
- 6 letters
- regret2, misery3, sorrow2
- 7 letters
- sadness2
- 8 letters
- sympathy3, distress2, agenbite
- 9 letters
- attrition3, penitence, dejection, sorriness
- 10 letters
- compassion3, melancholy4, repentance3, contrition3
- 11 letters
- unhappiness4, compunction3
- 12 letters
- wretchedness
- 13 letters
- commiseration
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (pity2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- remords
- Italiano
- rimorso
- Español
- remordimiento
- Deutsch
- Reue