First attested circa13th century, fromMiddle Englishpenitence, fromOld Frenchpenitence, fromLatinpaenitentia(“repentance, penitence”), frompaenitēns(“penitent”), present active participle ofpaeniteō(“regret, repent”). Equivalent topenitent +-ence.Doublet ofpenance.
penitence (countable anduncountable,pluralpenitences)
- Thecondition of beingpenitent; afeeling ofregret orremorse for doingwrong orsinning.
1886, Algernon Charles Swinburne,The Age of Shakespeare,John Webster:an assassin who misses his aim and flounders intopenitence much as that discomfortable drama misses its point and stumbles into vacuity
1886 January 5,Robert Louis Stevenson, “Dr. Lanyon’s Narrative”, inStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London:Longmans, Green, and Co.,→OCLC,page105:As for the moral turpitude that man unveiled to me, even with tears ofpenitence, I cannot, even in memory, dwell on it without a start of horror.
condition of being penitent
FromLatinpaenitentia.
penitence f (pluralpenitences)
- (chiefly Christianity)penitence (repentance for one's sins)
Borrowed fromLatinpaenitentia.
penitenceoblique singular, f (oblique pluralpenitences,nominative singularpenitence,nominative pluralpenitences)
- (chiefly Christianity)penitence (repentance for one's sins)
