Uncontrite

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Showing no remorse or regret for wrongdoing; refusing to admit fault or feel sorry for one's actions
2. Not showing any feeling of sorrow or guilt for mistakes or offenses committed
3. Displaying a lack of repentance or sorrow for harmful or wrongful acts

Etymology: "Uncontrite" is simply the English prefix "un-", meaning "not", attached to "contrite." The adjective "contrite" comes from Latin "contritus," the past participle of "conterere," meaning "to grind or crush to pieces," formed from "com-" (together, intensive) and "terere" (to rub or wear down). The literal sense of crushing or pounding survives in the word's moral meaning: a contrite person is one whose spirit has been broken by guilt and who feels genuine sorrow for wrongdoing. Because "contrite" already carries that sense of inner breaking, "uncontrite" describes the opposite condition: a heart that has not been ground down by remorse. The prefix is productive in English, so the form is a straightforward negation rather than a separately borrowed term, and it reads as a deliberate contrast to the older, more familiar adjective.

Synonyms: unrepentant, remorseless

Antonyms: contrite, repentant