penitentiary

/ˌpɛnɪˈtɛnʃəɹi/

penitentiary noun: a state or federal prison for convicted felons; (loosely) a prison.

Noun

penitentiary (plural penitentiaries)

(US) A state or federal prison for convicted felons; (loosely) a prison.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:penitentiary.
Synonyms:

pen
A priest in the Roman Catholic Church who administers the sacrament of penance.
(obsolete) One who prescribes the rules and measures of penance.
- The Race of this Warre fell vpon the losse of Vrbin it selfe, which was the Dukes vndoubted Right; Yet in this case, no Penitentiary, (though hee had enioyned him neuer so strait Penance to expiate his first Offence,) would haue counselled him to haue giuen ouer the pursuit of his Right for Vrbin...a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount...
(obsolete) One who does penance.
(obsolete) A small building in a monastery, or a part of a church, where penitents confessed.
- Topics which a priest may not treat , and which bishops declare are unfit for sacramental confession even in penitentiaries, become , with either public or private approval , the subject - matter of platform speeches1875, Orby Shipley, A Theory about Sin
(obsolete) An office of the papal court which examines cases of conscience, confession, absolution from vows, etc., and delivers decisions, dispensations, etc.; run by a cardinal called the Grand Penitentiary who is appointed by the pope.
(obsolete) An officer in some dioceses since 1215, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him.

Adjective

penitentiary (not comparable)

Of or relating to penance; penitential.
- A penitentiary tax.1654, John Bramhall, A Just Vindication of the Church of England from the Unjust Aspersion of Criminal Schism
Of or relating to the punishment of criminals.
- Penitentiary houses.1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC
Synonyms:

penal, punishmental, penary

penitentiary meaning in Kannada, Arabic and Indonesian

penitentiary in Arabic

of or relating to prison: سِجْنِيّ sijniyy

Synonyms of penitentiary

Forms of penitentiary

plural	penitentiaries

Plural of penitentiary: penitentiaries

Origin of penitentiary

From Middle English penitentiary, from Medieval Latin pēnitentiārius (“place of penitence”), from Latin paenitentia (“penitence”), term used by the Quakers in Pennsylvania during the 1790s, describing a place for penitents to dwell upon their sins.

Words formed from penitentiary

penitentiaryship

Questions about penitentiary

What does penitentiary mean?: Penitentiary means a state or federal prison for convicted felons; (loosely) a prison.
What is penitentiary in Kannada?: Penitentiary in Kannada is ಪ್ರಾಯಶ್ಚಿತ್ತ ಭವನ, ಸುಧಾರಣಾ ಕಾರಾಗೃಹ. See Penitentiary meaning in Kannada.
What part of speech is penitentiary?: Penitentiary can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce penitentiary?: Penitentiary is pronounced /ˌpɛnɪˈtɛnʃəɹi/.
What is the plural of penitentiary?: The plural of penitentiary is penitentiaries.

Words near penitentiary in the dictionary

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

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-penitentiary.wav.

Cite this entry: “penitentiary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/penitentiary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.