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View synonyms for penitent

penitent

[ pen-i-tuhnt ]

adjective

  1. feeling or expressing sorrow for sin or wrongdoing and disposed to atonement and amendment; repentant; contrite.

    Synonyms: sorrowful, rueful, remorseful

    Antonyms: unrepentant, impenitent



noun

  1. a penitent person.
  2. Roman Catholic Church. a person who confesses sin and submits to a penance.

penitent

/ ˈpɛnɪtənt /

adjective

  1. feeling regret for one's sins; repentant


noun

  1. a person who is penitent
  2. Christianity
    1. a person who repents his sins and seeks forgiveness for them
    2. RC Church a person who confesses his sins to a priest and submits to a penance imposed by him

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Derived Forms

  • ˈpenitence, noun
  • ˈpenitently, adverb

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Other Words From

  • peni·tent·ly adverb
  • non·peni·tent adjective noun
  • un·peni·tent adjective
  • un·peni·tent·ly adverb

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Word History and Origins

Origin of penitent1

1325–75; Middle English < Medieval Latin pēnitent-, Latin paenitent- (stem of paenitēns ), present participle of paenitēre to regret; replacing Middle English penaunt < Anglo-French; penance

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Word History and Origins

Origin of penitent1

C14: from Church Latin paenitēns regretting, from paenitēre to repent, of obscure origin

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Example Sentences

Messages also came from “los arrepentidos,” the penitents—people who said they’d been involved in the burials and were moved to confess.

The administrator’s caravan charted a penitent itinerary along the Gulf Coast, calling on communities of color that the EPA has historically failed to protect.

In one scene, a penitent missus in a shapeless tube dress scratches her head and admits to having crashed the car.

Still, that might not do it: not every believer, or even all members of the penitent, will be taken.

He would later say about his subway pictures that they were made in the “hands of a penitent spy and an apologetic voyeur.”

His admonition last week to the Irish church repeatedly emphasised that heaven still awaits the penitent pedophile priest.

I was glad to learn that Mary Magdalene's penitent side was not the main attraction here.

They are unquestionably penitent now; but then, you know, they have the recollection of very recent suffering fresh upon them.

Note that the penitent is here supposed to address his own parish-priest.

In this capacity, he assisted at the public confession of his penitent, Mme. Graslin, in the summer of 1844.

It was also, probably, designed as a protest against the rigour of the Novatians in refusing reconciliation to penitent apostates.

Discussions of the relative merits of The Fair Penitent and its source have been almost invariably acrimonious.

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penitencePenitente