Word.ws English Dictionary

penitent

/ˈpɛnɪtənt/

penitent adjective: feeling pain or sorrow on account of one's sins or offenses; feeling sincere guilt.

Adjective

penitent (comparative more penitent, superlative most penitent)

  1. Feeling pain or sorrow on account of one's sins or offenses; feeling sincere guilt.
    • Be penitent, and for thy fault contrite.1671, John Milton, “(please specify the page)”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC
    • If thou be penitent and grieved, or desirous to be so, these heinous sins shall not be laid to thy charge.1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC
  2. Doing penance.
    • […] But we that know what ’tis to faſt and pray, / Are penitent for your default to day.c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

Noun

penitent (plural penitents)

  1. One who repents of sin; one sorrowful on account of their transgressions.
  2. One under church censure, but admitted to penance; one undergoing penance.
    • 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!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
  3. One under the direction of a confessor.

penitent meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada

penitent in Urdu

penitent, repentant, ashamed, remorseful
پشیمان paśemān

penitent in Bengali

অনুতাপজনিত, অনুতাপসূচক

penitent in Malayalam

പശ്ചാത്താപമുള്ള, അനുതാപമുള്ള

penitent in Kannada

ಪಶ್ಚಾತ್ತಾಪಪಡುವ, ಪ್ರಾಯಶ್ಚಿತ್ತ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ
More languagesFewer languages
penitent in Indonesian
peniten

Synonyms of penitent

All synonyms of penitent

Forms of penitent

Adjective
comparativemore penitent
superlativemost penitent
alternative form (archaic)pænitent
alternative form (obsolete)penitant
alternative form (nonstandard, archaic)pœnitent
Noun
pluralpenitents

Origin of penitent

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin paenitēns, poenitēns (“penitent”), present participle of paeniteō, poeniteō (“to cause to repent; to regret, repent”). Doublet of penitente.

Words formed from penitent

Questions about penitent

What does penitent mean?
Penitent means feeling pain or sorrow on account of one's sins or offenses; feeling sincere guilt.
What is penitent in Urdu?
Penitent in Urdu is پشیمان (paśemān). See Penitent meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is penitent?
Penitent can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce penitent?
Penitent is pronounced /ˈpɛnɪtənt/.

Words near penitent in the dictionary

  1. penitencer
  2. penitencers
  3. penitences
  4. penitencies
  5. penitency
  6. penitent
  7. penitente
  8. penitentes
  9. penitential
  10. penitentiality
  11. penitentially

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: penitent (page history and authors); پشیمان (Urdu) (page history and authors); penitent (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); penitent (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); penitent (Kannada Wiktionary) (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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Cite this entry: “penitent.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/penitent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.