Penance
['penəns] or ['pɛnəns]
Definition
(noun.) a Catholic sacrament; repentance and confession and atonement and absolution.
(noun.) voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing.
Typed by Brooke--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Repentance.
(n.) Pain; sorrow; suffering.
(n.) 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. Penance is the fourth of seven sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church.
(v. t.) To impose penance; to punish.
Inputed by Huntington
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Punishment (self-inflicted or imposed by ecclesiastical authority), mortification, maceration, humiliation, penalty.
Typed by Joan
Definition
n. repentance: external acts performed to manifest sorrow for sin to seek to atone for the sin and to avert the punishment which even after the guilt has been remitted may still remain due to the offence—also the sacrament by which absolution is conveyed (involving contrition confession and satisfaction): any instrument of self-punishment.—v.t. to impose penance on: to punish.
Checker: Prudence
Examples
- I think that after the war there will have to be some great penance done for the killing. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- In some sisterhood of the strictest order, shalt thou have time for prayer and fitting penance, and that repentance not to be repented of. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Seek to prayer and penance, and mayest thou find acceptance! Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- She did a few rows every day, by way of penance for the expiation of her sins. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Holy men have bidden penitents like you to hasten their path upward by penance, self-denial, and difficult good works. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Nay, said the Friar, if thou dost retract vows made in favour of holy Church, thou must do penance. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- These worthies suffer in the flesh and do penance all their lives, I suppose, but they look like consummate famine-breeders. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Gregory the Great urged the people to do penance, and a general procession was formed. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- She must be under some sort of penance, inflicted either by the Campbells or herself. Jane Austen. Emma.
- She went to Mrs. Goddard's accordingly the very next day, to undergo the necessary penance of communication; and a severe one it was. Jane Austen. Emma.
- It's more than a Catholic penance, and does no more good. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Likewise, on John's offering a suggestion which didn't meet his views, his face became overcast and reproachful, as enjoining penance. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Such a penance as I have been enduring, while you were sitting here so composed and so happy! Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- Be that as it may, if our good senator was a political sinner, he was in a fair way to expiate it by his night's penance. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Here, she must be leading a life of privation and penance; there it would have been all enjoyment. Jane Austen. Emma.
- It is the same case with those penances, which men inflict on themselves for their past sins and failings. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
Checked by Felicia