Contrite means deeply sorry for having done wrong. Genuinely, and showing it.
The sincerity is what the word insists on, which is why a contrite apology is one people accept and a contrite expression is more convincing than the words. It is formal and slightly religious in flavour, since contrition is a theological term for genuine sorrow for sin. It sits alongside repentant and remorseful, and all three are stronger than merely sorry. Its opposite is unrepentant, and the noun is contrition.
1adjectivecontriteFeeling and showing genuine sorrow for having done wrong.
“He looked genuinely contrite for once.”
Contrite is ground to pieces. Latin contrītus is the participle of conterō, to grind or bruise, from terō, to rub away, so remorse is described as being worn down.
Proto-Indo-European
*terh₁-
Latin
contrītus
Old French
contrit
Middle English
contrit
English, today
contrite
Built from
From Middle English contrit, from Old French contrit, from Latin contrītus. From Middle English contrit, from Old French contrit, from Latin contrītus literally “ground to pieces”, perfect passive participle of conterō (“grind, bruise”), from con- + terō (“rub, wear away”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA