penance
Syllables: pen·ance/ˈpɛn.əns/
penance noun: a voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing. It may be intended to serve as reparation for the act.
Noun
penance (countable and uncountable, plural penances)
- A voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing. It may be intended to serve as reparation for the act.
- Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, / And penance more will do."1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC
- A sacrament in some Christian churches that involves penitence (remorse plus restitution via prayer).
- Any instrument of self-punishment.
- repentance
- pain; sorrow; suffering
Verb
penance (third-person singular simple present penances, present participle penancing, simple past and past participle penanced)
penance meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
penance in Hindi
- voluntary self-imposed punishment
- प्रायश्चित prāyaścit, तपस्या tapasyā
penance in Tamil
- பாவசங்கீத்தனம்
penance in Marathi
- तपश्चर्या, प्रायश्चित्त
penance in Urdu
- penance; atonement; expiation
- کفارہ kaffāra
- penance
- نیم nem
More languagesFewer languages
- penance in Bengali
- প্রায়শ্চিত্ত praẏościtto
- penance in Telugu
- తపస్సు, ప్రాయశ్చిత్తము
- penance in Malayalam
- അനുപാതം, ദോഷപരിഹാരം, പ്രായശ്ചിത്തകർമ്മം, പശ്ചാത്താപം
- penance in Kannada
- ಉಗ್ಗಿ, ಉೞ್ಗಿ, ಪ್ರಾಯಶ್ಚಿತ್ತ, ಪಶ್ಚಾತ್ತಾಪ
- penance in Gujarati
- તપશ્ચર્યા, તપસ્યા, પ્રાયશ્ચિત્ત
- penance in Odia
- ଅକ୍ଷର akṣara
- penance in Sanskrit
- प्रायश्चित्त prāyaścitta
- penance in Nepali
- तपस्या
- penance in Arabic
- كَفَّارَة kaffāra, سِرّ التَوْبَة sirr at-tawba
- penance in Persian
- توبه tobe
Synonyms of penance
- castigate
- penalize
- amerce
- chastise
- come down on
- correct
- fix someone's wagon
- have someone's guts for garters
- have someone's head
- have someone's hide
13 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of penance
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | penances |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | penances |
| present participle | penancing |
| past participle | penanced |
| past | penanced |
Origin of penance
From Middle English penaunce, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French peneance, from Latin paenitentia (“repentance, penitence”). Doublet of penitence.
Words formed from penance
Questions about penance
- What does penance mean?
- Penance means a voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing. It may be intended to serve as reparation for the act.
- What is penance in Hindi?
- Penance in Hindi is प्रायश्चित (prāyaścit), तपस्या (tapasyā). See Penance meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is penance?
- Penance can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce penance?
- Penance is pronounced /ˈpɛn.əns/.
- What is the plural of penance?
- The plural of penance is penances.
Words near penance in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: penance (page history and authors); penance (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); penance (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); نیم (Urdu) (page history and authors); প্রায়শ্চিত্ত (Bengali) (page history and authors); penance (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); penance (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); penance (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); penance (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ଅକ୍ଷର (Odia) (page history and authors); penance (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-penance.ogg.
Cite this entry: “penance.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/penance. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.