Penitence

(n.) Sorrow for sins or faults with desire to make amends; repentance; contrition.

Thesaurus Entries

Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, abject apology, acknowledgment, anguish, apology, asceticism, attrition, breast-beating, change of heart, cold purgatorial fires, compunction, confession, contriteness, contrition, deathbed repentance, debasement, degradation, distress, excuse, fasting, flagellation, grief, hair shirt, heartfelt apology, humbling, humiliation, lustration, maceration, mea culpa, mortification, penance, penitential act, penitential exercise, penitently, purgation, purgatory, qualm, reformation, regret, regretfulness, regrets, remorse, remorsefulness, repentance, rue, ruefulness, ruth, sackcloth and ashes, sadness, saeta, scruple, self-accusation, self-punishment, self-reproach, shame, sorrow, sorrowfulness, wearing a hairshirt