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Glite Dictionary
to beat one's breast

to beat one's breast

9.1
Show deep regret by hitting your chest and crying
  • idiom
  • Literature
translation icon : latir el pecho
  • He beat his breast.

Examples

  • Overcome with guilt, he beat his breast, mourning the loss of his friend.

  • Feeling immense sorrow, she began to beat her breast as a sign of her regret.

  • After hearing the unfortunate news, he could only beat his breast in remorse.

Synonyms

to make a clean breast of
vsto beat one's breast
1 7.5

To tell the whole truth about something wrong you did

expresses deep sorrow or regret outwardly rather than admitting facts

Antonyms

to celebrate
∞ 1.4

To join fun events to mark a special day or achievement

to rejoice
93 3.6

Feel or show that you are very happy

How Remorseful

to beat one's breast
  • Literature
9.1
to wail
84 3.2
to regret
481 1.2

Surface Forms

beat one's breast infinitive
beat one's breast past
beat one's breast past participle
beating one's breast present participle
beats one's breast third person singular

Morphology

beat + one + breast

The constituent words literally describe striking one's chest, so a learner who knows 'beat' and 'breast' can infer a physical action and an emotional display. However, the conventionalized meaning of expressing deep regret or contrition is a culturally specific extension of that image and is not fully predictable without prior exposure, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Beat one's breast comes from a long custom of people actually striking their chest when they felt very sad or sorry. People would beat their breast to show they were truly sorry, so today the phrase means 'to show deep sorrow or regret'.