Meaning & use
remorse
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Meanings
noununcountable
A painful feeling of guilt and sorrow about something wrong you have done.
Grammar: Usually without an article: he felt remorse.
Patterns
- remorse for something
- feel remorse
- show remorse
He felt deep remorse for lying to his sister.
The judge noted that the defendant showed no remorse.
She was filled with remorse after the argument.
nounidiomliterary
In the idiom without remorse, a lack of pity or hesitation when doing harm.
Grammar: Fixed phrase: acted without remorse.
Patterns
- without remorse
The villain struck without remorse.
The storm tore through the village without remorse.
Common combinations
- deep remorse
- He expressed deep remorse to the family.
- feel remorse
- I feel remorse about how I treated her.
- show no remorse
- The thief showed no remorse in court.
- pang of remorse
- A pang of remorse hit him when he saw her cry.
- remorse for
- She wrote a letter of remorse for her actions.
Synonyms and how they differ
- regret
- Regret is milder and can apply to any disappointing choice, while remorse implies guilt over a wrong.
- guilt
- Guilt is the feeling of having done wrong, and remorse adds sincere sorrow and wish to undo it.
- contrition
- Contrition is more formal and religious, stressing humble repentance.
- compunction
- Compunction is a slight uneasy feeling of guilt, weaker than remorse.
Opposites
Word family
- remorseful adjective
- feeling deep guilt
- remorsefully adverb
- in a way that shows guilt
- remorseless adjective
- without pity or guilt
- remorselessly adverb
- in a relentless, pitiless way
Commonly confused: remorse or regret?
remorse vs regret
Regret can be about a mistake with no moral wrong, such as missing a bus, while remorse is guilt about hurting someone or acting wrongly.
Practice
The driver wrote to the family, expressing sincere ___ for the accident he had caused.
Choose one answer.
Remorse is guilt and sorrow for a wrong you caused. Relief and pride would be inappropriate toward the victims' family.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “remorse”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.