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repent

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

To feel sorry for a wrongdoing and try to make amends; in poetry, repentance is a theme of moral awakening, often involving a character's internal conflict, spiritual struggle, and the emotional weight of seeking forgiveness.

Detailed Definition
In older literary English, repent often carries a stronger moral and religious sense than in casual modern speech. Here it describes the knight's required punishment and change of heart after his crime.
Example
Example in poetry:
“For his crime, he must repent” states repentance as remorse and changed intention; “Repent, says the bell, before the winter closes” gives the word a religious, dramatic register; “She repented not of leaving, but of leaving without farewell” makes the emotion personal and specific; “In contemporary poems, repent may be earnest, ironic, or questioned as a demand for confession”
Additional Notes
The word in "he must repent" is a literary, morally charged use that may feel more archaic or formal than everyday conversation.; Found in the poem, The Wife of Bath's Tale by Richard
Also Known As
Atone Contrition Repentance Seek Forgiveness
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