contrite

Zegler's contrite posts were a far cry from her white-hot rage following the election of Trump.

When he sees and hears about what he has done, he is distraught and contrite.

Days later, Smith issued a contrite statement and resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

And following the verdict, the defendant himself, instead of acting contrite or respectfully pledging to continue his legal battle, denounced it all as “a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt.”

And while he has issued public apologies, Goecke has remained more defiant than contrite, and disturbingly equivocal: He has both admitted to overreacting and also tried to justify his behavior.