Word.ws English Dictionary

penances

penances is the plural of penance.

Meaning of penance

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.
    • 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
  2. A sacrament in some Christian churches that involves penitence (remorse plus restitution via prayer).
  3. Any instrument of self-punishment.
  4. (obsolete) repentance
  5. (obsolete) pain; sorrow; suffering

See all 6 meanings of penance

Questions about penances

What is penances the plural of?
Penances is the plural of penance.

Words near penances in the dictionary

  1. penamecillin
  2. penams
  3. penance
  4. penanced
  5. penanceless
  6. penances
  7. penancing
  8. Penang
  9. Penang laksa
  10. Penang lawyer
  11. Penang lawyers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: penances (page history and authors); penance (page history and authors). 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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