Adjacent Words

Penitence definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PEN'ITENCE
PENITENCY, n. [L. poenitentia, from poeniteo, from poena, pain, punishment. See Pain.] Repentance; pain; sorrow or grief of heart for sins or offenses; contrition. Real penitence springs from a conviction of guilt and ingratitude to God, and is followed by amendment of life.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: remorse for your past conduct [syn: repentance, penitence, penance]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French penitance, from Medieval Latin poenitentia, alteration of Latin paenitentia regret, from paenitent-, paenitens, present participle Date: 13th century the quality or state of being penitent ; sorrow for sins or faults Synonyms: penitence, repentance, contrition, compunction, remorse mean regret for sin or wrongdoing. penitence implies sad and humble realization of and regret for one's misdeeds <absolution is dependent upon sincere penitence>. repentance adds the implication of a resolve to change <repentance accompanied by a complete change of character>. contrition stresses the sorrowful regret that constitutes true penitence <tearful expressions of contrition>. compunction implies a painful sting of conscience especially for contemplated wrongdoing <had no compunctions about taking back what is mine>. remorse suggests prolonged and insistent self-reproach and mental anguish for past wrongs and especially for those whose consequences cannot be remedied <thieves untroubled by feelings of remorse>.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Penitence Pen"i*tence, n. [F. p['e]nitence, L. paenitentia. See Penitent, and cf. Penance.] The quality or condition of being penitent; the disposition of a penitent; sorrow for sins or faults; repentance; contrition. ``Penitence of his old guilt.'' --Chaucer. Death is deferred, and penitenance has room To mitigate, if not reverse, the doom. --Dryden. Syn: Repentance; contrition; compunction.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Penitence is sincere regret for wrong or evil things that you have done. = repentance

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Repentance, contrition, compunction, regret, remorse, sorrow.

Moby Thesaurus

Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, abject apology, acknowledgment, anguish, apology, asceticism, attrition, breast-beating, change of heart, cold purgatorial fires, compunction, confession, contriteness, contrition, deathbed repentance, debasement, degradation, distress, excuse, fasting, flagellation, grief, hair shirt, heartfelt apology, humbling, humiliation, lustration, maceration, mea culpa, mortification, penance, penitential act, penitential exercise, penitently, purgation, purgatory, qualm, reformation, regret, regretfulness, regrets, remorse, remorsefulness, repentance, rue, ruefulness, ruth, sackcloth and ashes, sadness, saeta, scruple, self-accusation, self-punishment, self-reproach, shame, sorrow, sorrowfulness, wearing a hairshirt