remorse
rih-MORSnounMeaning deep, painful regret for having done wrong
Memory hook RE-MORS: guilt that BITES AGAIN. Kai broke his brother’s toy truck, and the guilt keeps biting at him all evening until he hands over his own teddy bear; that biting regret is remorse.
Filled with remorse, Kai gave back the toy he had taken and apologized to his little brother.
In context The vandal showed no remorse in court; he smirked through the whole hearing and never once apologized to the shop owner whose window he had smashed.
Similar regret, guilt, contrition, repentance
Opposite shamelessness, indifference
From Latin remordere, “to bite again”: re- (again) + mordere (to bite). Remorse is a wrong that keeps biting you.