Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An act of self-mortification or devotion performed voluntarily to show sorrow for a sin or other wrongdoing.
- noun A sacrament in some Christian churches that includes contrition, confession to a priest, acceptance of punishment, and absolution.
- transitive verb To impose penance upon.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To inflict penance upon; discipline by penance.
- noun Penitence; repentance.
- noun Sorrow for sin shown by outward acts; self-punishment expressive of penitence or repentance; the suffering to which a person voluntarily subjects himself, as by fasting, flagellation, self-imposed tasks, etc., as an expression of penitence; the outward acts by which sorrow for sin is shown.
- noun Eccles., sorrow for sin shown by outward acts under authority and regulation of the church; contrition manifested by confession and satisfaction and entitling to absolution; hence, absolution ensuing upon contrition and confession with satisfaction or purpose of satisfaction.
- noun The penalty or discipline imposed by the priest in the above sacrament.
- noun Hence Any act of austerity or asceticism practised with a religious motive.
- noun Suffering; sorrow; misery.
- noun An instrument or means of self-punishment used by persons undergoing penance either inflicted or voluntary.
- noun To show one's self repentant by submitting to the punishment of censure or suffering.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete Repentance.
- noun obsolete Pain; sorrow; suffering.
- noun (Eccl.) A means of repairing a sin committed, and obtaining pardon for it, consisting partly in the performance of expiatory rites, partly in voluntary submission to a punishment corresponding to the transgression, imposed by a confessor or other ecclesiastical authority. Penance is the fourth of seven sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church.
- noun colloq. Any act performed by a person to atone for an offense to another; an act of atonement.
- transitive verb To impose penance; to punish.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A voluntary self-imposed
punishment for asinful act or wrongdoing. It may be intended to serve asreparation for the act. - noun A
sacrament in some Christian churches. - verb To
impose penance; topunish .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a Catholic sacrament; repentance and confession and atonement and absolution
- noun remorse for your past conduct
- noun voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Pereira (Portuguese), and Wuyka (Polish), we find in Matthew 3: 2, and thirty-four other places, instead of "repent ye" the words, "do penance," while in Matthew 3: 8, and some twenty other places, the word that should be translated "repentance," is rendered _penance.
Through Five Republics on Horseback, Being an Account of Many Wanderings in South America G. Whitfield Ray
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"_I say to you_, says our Saviour, _there shall be joy in Heaven upon one sinner that doth penance; more than upon ninety-nine just, who need not penance_, [5] and so the state of redemption is a hundred times better than that of innocence.
The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales Jean Pierre Camus 1618
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In what he calls his "penance," the congressman has now written 10,000 letters to the families of fallen servicemen and women.
Jim Wallis: It's Finally Over -- and It Was Wrong Jim Wallis 2011
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In what he calls his "penance," the congressman has now written 10,000 letters to the families of fallen servicemen and women.
Jim Wallis: It's Finally Over -- and It Was Wrong Jim Wallis 2011
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And, while the word "penance" does not appear in the 1611 Bible, in deference to the Puritans, neither does the word "tyrant", in deference to the king.
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In what he calls his "penance," the congressman has now written 10,000 letters to the families of fallen servicemen and women.
Jim Wallis: It's Finally Over -- and It Was Wrong Jim Wallis 2011
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In what he calls his "penance," the congressman has now written 10,000 letters to the families of fallen servicemen and women.
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Jim Wallis 2011
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And her penance is merciless: she must find a way to lure her former socialite friends into the tofu tenement she has been reduced to.
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In response to the Grand Jury report, some suggested that as an expression of penance Penn State should forfeit its last home game against Nebraska.
Christopher Brauchli: The Coach, the Pope and the Children Christopher Brauchli 2011
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In response to the Grand Jury report, some suggested that as an expression of penance Penn State should forfeit its last home game against Nebraska.
Christopher Brauchli: The Coach, the Pope and the Children Christopher Brauchli 2011
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