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penitentiary
[ pen-i-ten-shuh-ree ]
noun
- a place for imprisonment, reformatory discipline, or punishment, especially a prison maintained in the U.S. by a state or the federal government for serious offenders.
- Roman Catholic Church. a tribunal in the Curia Romana, presided over by a cardinal grand penitentiary, having jurisdiction over certain matters, as penance, confession, dispensation, absolution, and impediments, and dealing with questions of conscience reserved for the Holy See.
adjective
- (of an offense) punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary.
- of, relating to, or intended for imprisonment, reformatory discipline, or punishment.
penitentiary
/ ˌpɛnɪˈtɛnʃərɪ /
noun
- (in the US and Canada) a state or federal prison: in Canada, esp a federal prison for offenders convicted of serious crimes Sometimes shortened topen
- RC Church
- a cleric appointed to supervise the administration of the sacrament of penance in a particular area
- a priest who has special faculties to absolve particularly grave sins
- a cardinal who presides over a tribunal that decides all matters affecting the sacrament of penance
- this tribunal itself
adjective
- See penitentialanother word for penitential
- (of an offence) punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary
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Word History and Origins
Origin of penitentiary1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of penitentiary1
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Example Sentences
The Mexican Mafia run their empire from the penitentiary to the streets of LA.
I recently visited Graterford, a maximum-security state penitentiary in Pennsylvania, 30 miles from Philadelphia.
He is now serving a minimum of a two-year sentence in a federal penitentiary.
He served two months at the Mississippi state penitentiary before his conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court.
But under house arrest after 18 months in a federal penitentiary.
There is nothing like it among us at the present day except within the melancholy precincts of the penitentiary.
He didn't think the penitentiary the place for them, and would not have the convicts contaminated by them.
In the three months of penitentiary life I have learned many things.
We are requiring heavy bail and asking for imprisonment in the penitentiary in case of conviction.
In a remote state of the West there is a respectable and successful farmer, who was once sentenced to the penitentiary for life.
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