different between penance vs penitent

English

Etymology

From Middle English penaunce, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French peneance, from Latin paenitentia (“penitence”). Doublet of penitence.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?n.?ns/
• Hyphenation: pen?ance

Noun

penance (countable and uncountable, plural penances)

1. A voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing. It may be intended to serve as reparation for the act.
   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

     Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, / And penance more will do."

2. A sacrament in some Christian churches.
3. Any instrument of self-punishment.
4. (obsolete) repentance
5. (obsolete) pain; sorrow; suffering

   • ne Joy nor penance he feeleth none.

Synonyms

• penitence
• atonement

Related terms

Translations

Verb

penance (third-person singular simple present penances, present participle penancing, simple past and past participle penanced)

1. To impose penance; to punish.

English

Alternative forms

• pænitent (archaic)
• penitant (obsolete)
• pœnitent (archaic, nonstandard)

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin paenit?ns, poenit?ns (“penitent”), present participle of paenite?, poenite? (“I cause to repent; I regret, repent”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?n?t?nt/

Adjective

penitent (comparative more penitent, superlative most penitent)

1. Feeling pain or sorrow on account of one's sins or offenses; feeling sincere guilt.

   Synonyms: repentant, contrite; see also Thesaurus:remorseful

   • 1671, John Milton, Paradise Regained

     Be penitent, and for thy fault contrite.

   • 1838, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, B. Blake, p.730,

     If thou be penitent and grieved, or desirous to be so, these heinous sins shall not be laid to thy charge.

2. Doing penance.
   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, [Act I, scene ii]:

     […] But we that know what ’tis to fa?t and pray, / Are penitent for your default to day.

Translations

Noun

penitent (plural penitents)

1. One who repents of sin; one sorrowful on account of his or her transgressions.
2. One under church censure, but admitted to penance; one undergoing penance.

   Hyponym: consistent

   • 1837, William Russell, The History of Modern Europe: with an Account of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Longman, Rees, & Co., page 20,

     Wamba, who defeated the Saracens in an attempt upon Spain, was deprived of the crown, because he had been clothed in the habit of a penitent, while labouring under the influence of poison, administered by the ambitious Erviga!

3. One under the direction of a confessor.

Translations

Related terms

Further reading

• penitent in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• penitent in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• penitent at OneLook Dictionary Search

Romanian

Etymology

From French pénitent, from Latin poenitens.

Adjective

penitent m or n (feminine singular penitent?, masculine plural peniten?i, feminine and neuter plural penitente)

1. penitent

Declension