What does shrift mean?
Shrift is an uncommon noun denoting forgiveness, pardon, or absolution. It appears in legal and religious language, where it can refer to the mercy granted to someone who has confessed or repented. Its best-known use is in the phrase “give short shrift,” meaning to allow someone only a brief period in which to acknowledge guilt, repent, or make amends before punishment. The expression can suggest either the limited time afforded by a court or, more figuratively, a lack of time to correct oneself or negotiate. Although the word is no longer common in ordinary modern usage, it remains intelligible in older literature, historical texts, and established phrases. Shrift should not be confused with the related verb shrive, which means to hear a confession and pronounce absolution. The two words belong to the same religious and legal tradition, but they have different parts of speech and grammatical functions.
nounForgiveness or absolution, especially for wrongdoing. The word is now mainly archaic or literary and survives especially in the expression “short shrift,” meaning a brief opportunity to repent or make amends.
- Forgiveness or absolution for wrongdoing, especially in legal, religious, or literary contexts.
- A limited opportunity to repent or make amends, as in the phrase “give short shrift.”
"The criminal was granted short shrift before the sentence was carried out."
"The old phrase gave the condemned only a moment to seek divine forgiveness."
"The novelist's description of the brief hearing conveys how little shrift the prisoner received."
The plural is rare because the word is chiefly used in fixed expressions and literary contexts.
"The old legal records mention several cases in which the accused were denied shrifts."
Short shrift was once a stark warning: there was only a little time left to repent before judgment.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does shrift come from?
Shrift derives from Old English scrift, meaning “pardon, absolution,” and belongs to a Germanic word family associated with prescribing, confession, and absolution. Modern English also has the related verb shrive and the participle shriven. The word survived chiefly in legal and religious expressions before becoming uncommon in general use, while the idiom “give short shrift” preserved its most recognizable sense.
Related word forms
How shrift is actually used
Chiefly archaic, literary, or idiomatic. In modern English it is almost always encountered in the fixed expression “give short shrift” or its variants.
Easily confused with shrift
Shrift is a rare noun meaning forgiveness or absolution, whereas its related verb shrive means to hear a person's confession and grant absolution.