repentance Meaning, Definition & Usage

Re*pent"ance noun

Etymology

F. repentance.

Definitions

1. The act of repenting, or the state of being penitent; sorrow for what one has done or omitted to do; especially, contrition for sin. Chaucer.

   Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. 2. Cor. vii. 20.

   Repentance is a change of mind, or a conversion from sin to God. Hammond.

   Repentance is the relinquishment of any practice from the conviction that it has offended God. Sorrow, fear, and anxiety are properly not parts, but adjuncts, of repentance; yet they are too closely connected with it to be easily separated. Rambler.

   Syn. -- Contrition; regret; penitence; contriteness; compunction. See Contrition.