repentance.

Sincere regret for wrongdoing with an intention to change one's behavior.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• genuine repentance
• expression of repentance

On the page

Her actions gave the apology the weight of genuine repentance.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common.