Primary
''penitent'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260120224739-00-⌔
penitent - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Adjective
penitent (comparative more penitent, superlative most penitent)
- Feeling pain or sorrow on account of one’s sins or offenses; feeling sincere guilt.
- Doing penance.
- ✤ […] But we that know what ’tis to faſt and pray,/Are penitent for your default to day.3
Noun
penitent (plural penitents)
- One who repents of sin; one sorrowful on account of their transgressions.
- One under church censure, but admitted to penance; one undergoing penance.
- ✤ Hyponym: consistent
- ✤ 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!4
- One under the direction of a confessor.
Etymology
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.
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈpɛnɪtənt/
- Audio (US): 🔊
Printed 2026-06-28.
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Link to original Footnotes
1671, John Milton, “”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC: ↩
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC: ↩
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, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]: ↩
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: ↩
Secondary
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