Repentance (r-pntans), n.
Etymology: [F. repentance.]
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.
Shades of meaning
Regret is sorrow for any painful or annoying matter. One is moved with penitence for wrong-doing. To speak of regret for a fault of our own marks it as slighter than one regarding which we should express penitence. Repentance is sorrow for sin with self-condemnation, and complete turning from the sin. Penitence is transient, and may involve no change of character or conduct. There may be sorrow without repentance, as for consequences only, but not repentance without sorrow. 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, with no turning of heart from the sin, and no suggestion of divine forgiveness.
Prepositions
Repentance of or in heart, or from the heart; repentance for sins; before or toward God; unto life.