Definition of: repentance

(ri·pen′təns) noun
A turning with sorrow from a past course or action; loosely, regret or contrition; also, the condition of being penitent. Synonyms: compunction, contrition, penitence, regret, remorse, sorrow. Regret is sorrow for any painful or annoying matter. One is moved with penitence for wrongdoing. To speak of regret for a fault of our own marks it as slighter than one for which we should express penitence. Repentance is sorrow for sin with self–condemnation, and complete turning from the sin. Compunction is a momentary sting of conscience, in view either of a past or of a contemplated act. Contrition is a subduing sorrow for sin, as against the divine holiness and love. Remorse is, as its derivation indicates, a biting or gnawing back of guilt upon the heart. Antonyms: approval, comfort, complacency, content, hardness, impenitence, obduracy, obstinacy, recusancy, stubbornness.