| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | wearing down or away |
| Synonyms: | abrasion, attenuation, debilitation, depreciation, disintegration, erosion, grinding, rubbing, thinning, weakening, wear |
| Antonyms: | building, strengthening |
| Main Entry: | compunction |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | regret, sorrow |
| Synonyms: | attrition, conscience, contrition, misgiving, penitence, penitency, pity, punctiliousness, qualm, reluctance, remorse, repentance, rue, ruth, second thoughts, shame, stab of conscience, sympathy |
| Antonyms: | defiance, meanness, no remorse |
| Main Entry: | contrition |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | regret |
| Synonyms: | attrition, compunction, contriteness, humiliation, penance, penitence, penitency, remorse, repentance, rue, ruth, self-reproach, sorrow |
| Antonyms: | hurtfulness, indifference, meanness |
| Main Entry: | erosion |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | deterioration; wearing away |
| Synonyms: | abrasion, attrition, consumption, corrosion, decrease, desedimentation, despoliation, destruction, disintegration, eating away, grinding down, spoiling, washing away, wear, wearing down |
| Notes: | abrasion is the process of wearing down or rubbing away by means of friction; corrosion is the act or process of destroying a metal or alloy gradually, especially by oxidation or chemical action; erosion is any of a group of natural processes, including weathering, dissolution, abrasion, corrosion, and transportation, by which material is worn away from the earth's surface |
| Antonyms: | building, construction, rebuilding, strengthening |
| Main Entry: | friction |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | rubbing |
| Synonyms: | abrasion, agitation, attrition, chafing, erosion, filing, fretting, grating, grinding, irritation, massage, rasping, resistance, scraping, soreness, traction, trituration, wearing away |
| Main Entry: | penance |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | reparation for wrong |
| Synonyms: | absolution, atonement, attrition, compensation, compunction, confession, contrition, expiation, forgiveness, hair shirt, mortification, penalty, penitence, punishment, purgation, remorse, remorsefulness, repentance, retribution, rue, ruth, sackcloth and ashes, self-flagellation, shrift, sorrow, suffering |
| Main Entry: | penitence |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | shame, sorrow |
| Synonyms: | anguish, attrition, compunction, contriteness, contrition, debasement, degradation, distress, grief, humbling, humiliation, penance, qualm, regret, remorse, remorsefulness, repentance, rue, ruefulness, ruth, sadness, scruple, self-castigation, self-condemnation, self-flagellation, self-punishment, self-reproach |
| Antonyms: | shamelessness |
| Main Entry: | remorse |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | guilty or bad conscience |
| Synonyms: | anguish, attrition, compassion, compunction, contriteness, contrition, grief, guilt, pangs of conscience, penance, penitence, penitency, pity, regret, remorsefulness, repentance, rue, ruefulness, self-reproach, shame, sorrow |
| Notes: | regret carries no explicit admission that one is responsible for an incident, while remorse implies a sense of guilty responsibility and a greater feeling of personal pain and anguish |
| Antonyms: | good conscience, happiness, remorselessness, satisfaction |
| Main Entry: | repentance |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | feeling bad for past action |
| Synonyms: | attrition, compunction, conscience, contriteness, contrition, grief, guilt, penitence, penitency, regret, remorse, rue, ruth, self-reproach, sorriness, sorrow |
| Antonyms: | happiness |