wear sackcloth and ashes
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Show remorse or repentance
Literally: dress in sackcloth and cover oneself in ashes
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The company's CEO wore sackcloth and ashes after the scandal.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “wear sackcloth and ashes” mean?
Show remorse or repentance Literally: dress in sackcloth and cover oneself in ashes
Is “wear sackcloth and ashes” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.